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Terror in Baghdad: Scores Wounded in Suicide Truck Bombing

Aired August 19, 2003 - 15:29   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Today's attack in Baghdad is the second such bombing in the past two weeks. At this hour, a rescue effort continues at that scene of the suicide blast, as the U.N. mourns the loss of its chief representative in Iraq.
CNN's Jane Arraf is live at the scene with the latest -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, just behind us they're bringing in new excavation equipment, bringing in more lights, fire trucks everything they might need to try to more of that concrete and stone and the rubble from that massive car bomb that exploded earlier today.

Now it's not clear how many people are still trapped, not clear whether there are people are alive, although there are believed to be. The last confirmed count was 17 dead, a little over half of them international staff, the rest of them Iraqi U.N. staff. And dozens more wounded, many of them still in hospital.

But these rescue efforts certainly will continue until they find whether -- until they account for everyone, in fact. You can probably hear the helicopters circling overhead, as well. This was a huge and unexpected shock to not just the U.N. people, obviously, but to Iraqis in general that such a massive car bomb could be placed in a target such as this -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, we know that about on a typical day about 300 people work within the U.N. headquarters there in Baghdad. Do you have any idea the number of individuals that could still be trapped in the rubble there?

ARRAF: Well, there apparently had been about 200 people in the building at the time. The explosion went off at a time when some of the local staff would have gone home and perhaps some of the international staff, as well. Now among the security measures the U.N. has taken, is that it had a curfew that's much earlier than the normal curfew. Still there would have been a lot of regular staff in that building and U.N. workers estimate that perhaps 200 would have been there. They have accounted for perhaps a couple of dozen of them. So it's really quite unclear how many are still trapped because they don't know exactly who was where, who was been taken to hospital. They're still doing the counting, trying to determine exactly who was in the building at the time and find out who may still be trapped inside there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, as you continue to work your sources through the night, any word to who may claim responsibility for this explosion?

ARRAF: We probably won't hear for quite some time, if ever. This was the kind of attack that really would be aimed only at showing that the U.S. is not in control of the security situation. And that was kind of the point that the U.N. has been making, that it did not want highly visible security. It did not want to and couldn't afford to look like an extension of the U.S. military, like an armed camp. It had beefed up security measures considerably, but obviously not considerably enough for this sort of thing to happen.

In terms of taking credit for these attacks, we haven't seen anyone take credit credibly for the bombing of the Jordanian embassy. A lot of these still are mysteries as to who might have been involved. But clearly, they all have the same effect -- making clear that the American occupying forces are not in control of the security here.

PHILLIPS: Jane Arraf on the ground in Baghdad there, thank you so much.

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




Bombing>


Aired August 19, 2003 - 15:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Today's attack in Baghdad is the second such bombing in the past two weeks. At this hour, a rescue effort continues at that scene of the suicide blast, as the U.N. mourns the loss of its chief representative in Iraq.
CNN's Jane Arraf is live at the scene with the latest -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, just behind us they're bringing in new excavation equipment, bringing in more lights, fire trucks everything they might need to try to more of that concrete and stone and the rubble from that massive car bomb that exploded earlier today.

Now it's not clear how many people are still trapped, not clear whether there are people are alive, although there are believed to be. The last confirmed count was 17 dead, a little over half of them international staff, the rest of them Iraqi U.N. staff. And dozens more wounded, many of them still in hospital.

But these rescue efforts certainly will continue until they find whether -- until they account for everyone, in fact. You can probably hear the helicopters circling overhead, as well. This was a huge and unexpected shock to not just the U.N. people, obviously, but to Iraqis in general that such a massive car bomb could be placed in a target such as this -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, we know that about on a typical day about 300 people work within the U.N. headquarters there in Baghdad. Do you have any idea the number of individuals that could still be trapped in the rubble there?

ARRAF: Well, there apparently had been about 200 people in the building at the time. The explosion went off at a time when some of the local staff would have gone home and perhaps some of the international staff, as well. Now among the security measures the U.N. has taken, is that it had a curfew that's much earlier than the normal curfew. Still there would have been a lot of regular staff in that building and U.N. workers estimate that perhaps 200 would have been there. They have accounted for perhaps a couple of dozen of them. So it's really quite unclear how many are still trapped because they don't know exactly who was where, who was been taken to hospital. They're still doing the counting, trying to determine exactly who was in the building at the time and find out who may still be trapped inside there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, as you continue to work your sources through the night, any word to who may claim responsibility for this explosion?

ARRAF: We probably won't hear for quite some time, if ever. This was the kind of attack that really would be aimed only at showing that the U.S. is not in control of the security situation. And that was kind of the point that the U.N. has been making, that it did not want highly visible security. It did not want to and couldn't afford to look like an extension of the U.S. military, like an armed camp. It had beefed up security measures considerably, but obviously not considerably enough for this sort of thing to happen.

In terms of taking credit for these attacks, we haven't seen anyone take credit credibly for the bombing of the Jordanian embassy. A lot of these still are mysteries as to who might have been involved. But clearly, they all have the same effect -- making clear that the American occupying forces are not in control of the security here.

PHILLIPS: Jane Arraf on the ground in Baghdad there, thank you so much.

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




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