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CNN Live Saturday

Spanish Intelligence Agents Ambushed Near Baghdad

Aired November 29, 2003 - 12:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: More now on a story we are following that continues to develop. An attack on Spanish intelligence agents south of Baghdad. Joining us on the phone now, Ragiv Chandrasekaran. He is a reporter with the "Washington Post" and he was on the scene shortly after the attack. Ragiv, thank you for joining us. What did you see when you got on the scene?
RAGIV CHANDRASEKARAN, "WASHINGTON POST": Hello, Kelly. As we were driving back to Baghdad about 30 miles south of the Capitol, near the city of Suruirah (ph), we saw a very large crowd around this scene. And Upon getting closer, I personally saw five bodies. A clump of three bodies on the road and two badly burned bodies in the median.

People on the scene said that there were two additional bodies in one burning vehicle.

(AUDIO GAP)

CHANDRASEKARAN: ...at the moment, that it was an eight member team from Spain's, National Intelligence Center that came under attack, as they were driving south out of Baghdad.

What people at the scene told us was that a group, at least one or two cars of Fedayeen were following these Spaniards who were in two four-wheel drive vehicles. They were fired upon by the cars. And at the same time, came under fire from people on the side of the road. It appeared to be a coordinated ambush.

Witnesses describe a very intense firefight that lasted for about 30 minutes. And what they said was that seven of the Spaniards were killed. They didn't describe them as Spaniards, they just said seven of the people they called foreigners. They believed they were Americans, CIA agents. And they said seven were killed. The eighth individual managed to escape, was picked up by an Iraqi driver and driven away from the scene.

WALLACE: And Ragiv, was there a sense of any chase? Was this convoy of agents being followed for a while? Was there a sense there was some chase before this ambush took place?

CHANDRASEKARAN: It's not clear there was any chase. What was described was they were followed. And that the occupants of at least one car opened fire on the two Spanish vehicles, forcing one off the road. And I could see that one vehicle that had gone off the road into a large muddy patch, was on fire. At that point, we were told, that both the fighters in the vehicle as well as other fighters, who had been laying in wait in this area, opened fire on those two vehicles. There was a heavy exchange of fire back and forth.

Both vehicles subsequently were engulfed in flames. It appears that, at least the occupants of one of the vehicles, ware able to get out. But three of those occupants were killed. And then it appears four occupants of the other vehicle run off the road were killed in their vehicle.

Two of the bodies were extracted by the crowd. I have to say that it was a very rowdy boisterous crowd, shouting slogans in support of Saddam Hussein. It appears to have been a Sunni Muslim enclave in what is otherwise a predominantly Shiite area south of Baghdad. This was on a main highway connecting Baghdad to the city of Hillah. It was about 30 miles south of the Capitol -- Kelly.

WALLACE: And Ragiv, our viewers are looking at some of the first video of the scene in the aftermath of the attack. And you can see some men holding their arms in the air. Was there cheering? What was -- describe a little bit more of the scene of the Iraqis that were on hand in the aftermath of that attack.

CHANDRASEKARAN: It was a very, sort of, boisterous crowd. There was a lot of cheer going on. A few individuals came up and actually kicked the bodies that were the road. There was a lot of shouting, again, cheering.

Pretty shortly thereafter, it appears there were 100 people there gathered around from the nearby village, they were stopping traffic as drivers rolled down their windows to inquire what was going on. They were shouting at the drivers, we've killed Americans, we've killed CIA agents.

They were dancing about on the streets. We determined it to be a fairly hostile crowd. So we stayed in the area for only a short time, only long enough to look at the bodies. They clearly appeared to be foreigners, not to be Iraqis. We did brief interviews, but worried that there might be some sort of military counterattack, got away pretty quickly.

WALLACE: Ragiv, thank you for joining us. That was Ragiv Chandrasekaran from "The Washington Post" reporting from the scene shortly after the attack on Spanish intelligence agents south of Baghdad. CNN will have more from this developing story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 29, 2003 - 12:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: More now on a story we are following that continues to develop. An attack on Spanish intelligence agents south of Baghdad. Joining us on the phone now, Ragiv Chandrasekaran. He is a reporter with the "Washington Post" and he was on the scene shortly after the attack. Ragiv, thank you for joining us. What did you see when you got on the scene?
RAGIV CHANDRASEKARAN, "WASHINGTON POST": Hello, Kelly. As we were driving back to Baghdad about 30 miles south of the Capitol, near the city of Suruirah (ph), we saw a very large crowd around this scene. And Upon getting closer, I personally saw five bodies. A clump of three bodies on the road and two badly burned bodies in the median.

People on the scene said that there were two additional bodies in one burning vehicle.

(AUDIO GAP)

CHANDRASEKARAN: ...at the moment, that it was an eight member team from Spain's, National Intelligence Center that came under attack, as they were driving south out of Baghdad.

What people at the scene told us was that a group, at least one or two cars of Fedayeen were following these Spaniards who were in two four-wheel drive vehicles. They were fired upon by the cars. And at the same time, came under fire from people on the side of the road. It appeared to be a coordinated ambush.

Witnesses describe a very intense firefight that lasted for about 30 minutes. And what they said was that seven of the Spaniards were killed. They didn't describe them as Spaniards, they just said seven of the people they called foreigners. They believed they were Americans, CIA agents. And they said seven were killed. The eighth individual managed to escape, was picked up by an Iraqi driver and driven away from the scene.

WALLACE: And Ragiv, was there a sense of any chase? Was this convoy of agents being followed for a while? Was there a sense there was some chase before this ambush took place?

CHANDRASEKARAN: It's not clear there was any chase. What was described was they were followed. And that the occupants of at least one car opened fire on the two Spanish vehicles, forcing one off the road. And I could see that one vehicle that had gone off the road into a large muddy patch, was on fire. At that point, we were told, that both the fighters in the vehicle as well as other fighters, who had been laying in wait in this area, opened fire on those two vehicles. There was a heavy exchange of fire back and forth.

Both vehicles subsequently were engulfed in flames. It appears that, at least the occupants of one of the vehicles, ware able to get out. But three of those occupants were killed. And then it appears four occupants of the other vehicle run off the road were killed in their vehicle.

Two of the bodies were extracted by the crowd. I have to say that it was a very rowdy boisterous crowd, shouting slogans in support of Saddam Hussein. It appears to have been a Sunni Muslim enclave in what is otherwise a predominantly Shiite area south of Baghdad. This was on a main highway connecting Baghdad to the city of Hillah. It was about 30 miles south of the Capitol -- Kelly.

WALLACE: And Ragiv, our viewers are looking at some of the first video of the scene in the aftermath of the attack. And you can see some men holding their arms in the air. Was there cheering? What was -- describe a little bit more of the scene of the Iraqis that were on hand in the aftermath of that attack.

CHANDRASEKARAN: It was a very, sort of, boisterous crowd. There was a lot of cheer going on. A few individuals came up and actually kicked the bodies that were the road. There was a lot of shouting, again, cheering.

Pretty shortly thereafter, it appears there were 100 people there gathered around from the nearby village, they were stopping traffic as drivers rolled down their windows to inquire what was going on. They were shouting at the drivers, we've killed Americans, we've killed CIA agents.

They were dancing about on the streets. We determined it to be a fairly hostile crowd. So we stayed in the area for only a short time, only long enough to look at the bodies. They clearly appeared to be foreigners, not to be Iraqis. We did brief interviews, but worried that there might be some sort of military counterattack, got away pretty quickly.

WALLACE: Ragiv, thank you for joining us. That was Ragiv Chandrasekaran from "The Washington Post" reporting from the scene shortly after the attack on Spanish intelligence agents south of Baghdad. CNN will have more from this developing story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com