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Death Toll, Anger Continue to Rise After Blast in Najaf
Aired August 29, 2003 - 15:34 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq now, one of Shi'a Islam's leading clerics had just delivered a public plea for unity when he left a sacred mosque and died in a car bombing. At this hour now 75 people are dead from the massive blast in Najaf. Still unknown is who's to blame.
CNN's Ben Wedeman from Najaf now live with the very latest on all of this. Hello to you, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, actually regarding that death toll, we just got a radio call from one of our cameramen who's telling us that he went to one of the hospitals where they have posted a list of 124 people killed in the blast, and that's just from that hospital.
So really, at this point, we should stay away from numbers as much as we can because the information is coming in, and it's going to be difficult to put it all together into a clear picture probably until tomorrow.
But I can tell you that the level of anger in Najaf is extremely high. This is really the equivalent of a bomb going off at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican outside Sunday mass. And the Imam Ali Mosque where the bomb went off is Shi'ite Islam's most holy shrine.
Hundreds were coming out of that mosque after Friday prayers, Friday being the Muslim holy day. And therefore -- and, of course, causing an incredible amount of carnage given the amount of people there. We are still at this hour, nine hours after the blast went off, we are hearing occasionally ambulances going by, people are still digging through the ruins outside the mosque, looking for dead, looking for survivors.
As I said, high emotions in a very difficult situation here in Najaf -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Ben, of course, we do want to remind everyone that in situations like this, those numbers, unfortunately, do change. You say, just to reiterate, at least 124 listed by one of the hospitals.
Also want to ask you, you say that people are obviously very angry, but who are they directing their anger at at this moment?
WEDEMAN: Well, today they were directing their anger at just about everybody who showed up on the scene. Of course, we had our car, was surrounded by an angry mob, several of whom were beating -- several of the members of the mob were beating on our car. We heard other stories of cameramen being beat up.
They are angry, for instance, at the Arabic satellite news channels who they blame for traditionally siding with Saddam Hussein, for not paying much attention to Shi'ite concerns. In fact, one of our -- some of our colleagues, our crew members were in the hospital. People refused to talk to them unless they could prove that they were not from the Arabic satellite news channels. So those are the focus of some of the angers -- some of the anger just on the ground.
But they're angry at the United States. The coalition forces, they say, have not provided adequate security, have not stabilized the situation to the point where this sort of bombing would not occur. They're blaming the Israelis who they believe are conducting nefarious plots against Iraq. They are blaming the remnants of the old regime of Saddam Hussein.
So the blame is flying like bullets in the atmosphere here. But nobody really knows at this point, as I said, just nine hours after the bomb went off, who could have been behind it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Ben Wedeman live from Najaf for us. Thanks so much, Ben.
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 August 29, 2003 - 15:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq now, one of Shi'a Islam's leading clerics had just delivered a public plea for unity when he left a sacred mosque and died in a car bombing. At this hour now 75 people are dead from the massive blast in Najaf. Still unknown is who's to blame.
CNN's Ben Wedeman from Najaf now live with the very latest on all of this. Hello to you, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, actually regarding that death toll, we just got a radio call from one of our cameramen who's telling us that he went to one of the hospitals where they have posted a list of 124 people killed in the blast, and that's just from that hospital.
So really, at this point, we should stay away from numbers as much as we can because the information is coming in, and it's going to be difficult to put it all together into a clear picture probably until tomorrow.
But I can tell you that the level of anger in Najaf is extremely high. This is really the equivalent of a bomb going off at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican outside Sunday mass. And the Imam Ali Mosque where the bomb went off is Shi'ite Islam's most holy shrine.
Hundreds were coming out of that mosque after Friday prayers, Friday being the Muslim holy day. And therefore -- and, of course, causing an incredible amount of carnage given the amount of people there. We are still at this hour, nine hours after the blast went off, we are hearing occasionally ambulances going by, people are still digging through the ruins outside the mosque, looking for dead, looking for survivors.
As I said, high emotions in a very difficult situation here in Najaf -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Ben, of course, we do want to remind everyone that in situations like this, those numbers, unfortunately, do change. You say, just to reiterate, at least 124 listed by one of the hospitals.
Also want to ask you, you say that people are obviously very angry, but who are they directing their anger at at this moment?
WEDEMAN: Well, today they were directing their anger at just about everybody who showed up on the scene. Of course, we had our car, was surrounded by an angry mob, several of whom were beating -- several of the members of the mob were beating on our car. We heard other stories of cameramen being beat up.
They are angry, for instance, at the Arabic satellite news channels who they blame for traditionally siding with Saddam Hussein, for not paying much attention to Shi'ite concerns. In fact, one of our -- some of our colleagues, our crew members were in the hospital. People refused to talk to them unless they could prove that they were not from the Arabic satellite news channels. So those are the focus of some of the angers -- some of the anger just on the ground.
But they're angry at the United States. The coalition forces, they say, have not provided adequate security, have not stabilized the situation to the point where this sort of bombing would not occur. They're blaming the Israelis who they believe are conducting nefarious plots against Iraq. They are blaming the remnants of the old regime of Saddam Hussein.
So the blame is flying like bullets in the atmosphere here. But nobody really knows at this point, as I said, just nine hours after the bomb went off, who could have been behind it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Ben Wedeman live from Najaf for us. Thanks so much, Ben.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
