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U.S. Forces Beat Back Simultaneous Ambushes in Samarra

Aired December 01, 2003 - 05:01   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the fierce gun battles that capped a weekend of anti-coalition violence in Iraq. We do know U.S. forces beat back simultaneous ambushes in the northern city of Samarra. But from there, the story gets muddy.
Live now to CNN's Nic Robertson. Actually, he's on the phone with us this morning. He is in Samarra and was able to speak with some U.S. soldiers -- good morning, Nic.

What did they say?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Good morning, Carol.

The situation from the coalition is very clear, that they were engaged in several ambushes in the town of Samarra Sunday afternoon. The ambushes started around three o'clock. In the words of one soldier I talked to, it started small and got big. According to intelligence officers, there were six major contacts, as they called them, in the town of Samarra.

The coalition says 54 Iraqis, many of them dressed as Fedayeen, were killed, 18 wounded and eight of them captured.

When we talked with the city's police officials, they told us they had only conveyed -- only received notification of eight people killed, of which they said two were Iranians, an elderly woman and an elderly man. They'd come on a pilgrimage to a holy site in the town of Samarra.

Certainly on the streets of Samarra it's generated a lot of anger, some people saying there were no ambushes, there was no resistance in the town. Other people saying yes, the resistance was there. In fact, they decided to make a major battle the next time U.S. troops came into town and that they had fired back at the U.S. forces.

The anger level against U.S. troops in the town of Samarra today quite high -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic, any way to know where some of these insurgents came from? How were they dressed?

ROBERTSON: Well, we haven't been able to corroborate from the townspeople or from the police that they were dressed as Fedayeen. Certainly some of them were dressed as Fedayeen, according to coalition officials. The police major we spoke to earlier today said that he hadn't seen any dresses -- any dressed as Fedayeen. People in the town told us that the resistance, however, had, on -- one person said the resistance had been told not to fight. For a week they've been so-called stood down. Another man told us that the resistance, as they call them in this town, the Iraqi insurgents, were so angered by the last time U.S. troops came into the town on a search mission that they decided to be ready and waiting on this particular occasion.

So the situation as far as the coalition is concerned is very clear. They had a major contact with Iraqi Fedayeen. But according to people in the town, these people were just being resistant and not so-called Fedayeen fighters -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And we should make it clear that no U.S. troops were injured in this fight. Were any of the insurgents taken alive so as to get some information out of them?

ROBERTSON: There were eight Iraqis captured in the operation and at this military facility we are at just outside of Samarra right now there are a number being held in detention here. We have seen that it's not clear if the people being held here are connected with the attacks yesterday or not. But this is, this place here does have a detention facility and certainly eight people were taken alive -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nic Robertson on the phone with us from Samarra.

And just to make it clear, no U.S. troops killed, but five were injured.

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 December 1, 2003 - 05:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the fierce gun battles that capped a weekend of anti-coalition violence in Iraq. We do know U.S. forces beat back simultaneous ambushes in the northern city of Samarra. But from there, the story gets muddy.
Live now to CNN's Nic Robertson. Actually, he's on the phone with us this morning. He is in Samarra and was able to speak with some U.S. soldiers -- good morning, Nic.

What did they say?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Good morning, Carol.

The situation from the coalition is very clear, that they were engaged in several ambushes in the town of Samarra Sunday afternoon. The ambushes started around three o'clock. In the words of one soldier I talked to, it started small and got big. According to intelligence officers, there were six major contacts, as they called them, in the town of Samarra.

The coalition says 54 Iraqis, many of them dressed as Fedayeen, were killed, 18 wounded and eight of them captured.

When we talked with the city's police officials, they told us they had only conveyed -- only received notification of eight people killed, of which they said two were Iranians, an elderly woman and an elderly man. They'd come on a pilgrimage to a holy site in the town of Samarra.

Certainly on the streets of Samarra it's generated a lot of anger, some people saying there were no ambushes, there was no resistance in the town. Other people saying yes, the resistance was there. In fact, they decided to make a major battle the next time U.S. troops came into town and that they had fired back at the U.S. forces.

The anger level against U.S. troops in the town of Samarra today quite high -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic, any way to know where some of these insurgents came from? How were they dressed?

ROBERTSON: Well, we haven't been able to corroborate from the townspeople or from the police that they were dressed as Fedayeen. Certainly some of them were dressed as Fedayeen, according to coalition officials. The police major we spoke to earlier today said that he hadn't seen any dresses -- any dressed as Fedayeen. People in the town told us that the resistance, however, had, on -- one person said the resistance had been told not to fight. For a week they've been so-called stood down. Another man told us that the resistance, as they call them in this town, the Iraqi insurgents, were so angered by the last time U.S. troops came into the town on a search mission that they decided to be ready and waiting on this particular occasion.

So the situation as far as the coalition is concerned is very clear. They had a major contact with Iraqi Fedayeen. But according to people in the town, these people were just being resistant and not so-called Fedayeen fighters -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And we should make it clear that no U.S. troops were injured in this fight. Were any of the insurgents taken alive so as to get some information out of them?

ROBERTSON: There were eight Iraqis captured in the operation and at this military facility we are at just outside of Samarra right now there are a number being held in detention here. We have seen that it's not clear if the people being held here are connected with the attacks yesterday or not. But this is, this place here does have a detention facility and certainly eight people were taken alive -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nic Robertson on the phone with us from Samarra.

And just to make it clear, no U.S. troops killed, but five were injured.

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