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Three Soldiers Killed

Aired September 19, 2003 - 14:36   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A crackdown by U.S. forces, with three more American soldiers dead, killed last night in an attack in Tikrit. And this evening, two explosions heard in downtown Baghdad. We just told you about those. All this as one of Saddam Hussein's key ministers -- he was the 8 of hearts -- has turned himself over to the Americans.
Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad for us, bringing us the latest.

Hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the very latest we have on those two explosions. One went off on the other side of the river, the west side of the river, in a district known as Mansour, a quite upmarket district. We've not been able to find out where that went off. People heard the explosion, said they could smell cordite in the air.

However, another explosion on this, the east side of the Tigris River here in Baghdad. That explosion going off near a taxi, slightly damaging the taxi. Inside the taxi was the taxi driver's wife and three of their children. Apparently, the taxi driver's wife and one child slightly injured. Now it appears to have been a very small explosion, with some rubbish refuse burning in that area. It's quite possible it was a piece of unexploded ordnance that had been lying around, as many pieces do in this city. Perhaps the burning refuse triggered it to explode.

Earlier in the day, however, Iraq's former defense minister, General Sultan Hashim Ahmad, turned himself over to coalition forces. He'd used a mediator to negotiate over a period of several weeks to try and get better terms. He wanted to be treated with dignity and respect, indeed, when he handed himself over to General Petraeus (ph), the commander of the 101st Airborne in Mosul, according to the former Iraqi defense minister's brothers, the U.S. general saluted him and shook his hand before taking him into custody. General Ahmad had wanted to make sure he would be properly treated, and that his medical condition as a diabetic -- that he would be properly taken care of in coalition custody.

Also today, 55 Iraqis arrested in the town of Tikrit. That following up on the deaths of three U.S. soldiers. The wounding of two others in those overnight raids in Tikrit. On Thursday night, there were multiple raids in that town. And during those raids, those soldiers were killed. Two other wounded. And late this afternoon in Baghdad, on a highway south of Baghdad, another explosion hitting a U.S. convoy -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Nic, why did U.S. forces treat General Ahmad with such kid gloves?

ROBERTSON: Well, there could be many reasons. What the coalition is telling us is they're not saying they're giving him any special privileges. He wanted to be taken off that list of 55 most wanted Iraqis. He wanted to be taken off that deck off cards. They're not saying that's happened. They could do this, because they want to encourage others to hand themselves in and do this. They could do this because they don't want to risk soldiers' lives in trying a hostile arrest. They could be doing this, because they think when he was arrested he might now provide them with more information. We don't know of any breakthroughs the coalition has had so far with the other detainees. And they may, of course, be hoping that part of this negotiated surrender of the commander of Iraqi's forces might lead to a lowering of the attacks on U.S. forces here -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very 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






Aired September 19, 2003 - 14:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A crackdown by U.S. forces, with three more American soldiers dead, killed last night in an attack in Tikrit. And this evening, two explosions heard in downtown Baghdad. We just told you about those. All this as one of Saddam Hussein's key ministers -- he was the 8 of hearts -- has turned himself over to the Americans.
Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad for us, bringing us the latest.

Hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the very latest we have on those two explosions. One went off on the other side of the river, the west side of the river, in a district known as Mansour, a quite upmarket district. We've not been able to find out where that went off. People heard the explosion, said they could smell cordite in the air.

However, another explosion on this, the east side of the Tigris River here in Baghdad. That explosion going off near a taxi, slightly damaging the taxi. Inside the taxi was the taxi driver's wife and three of their children. Apparently, the taxi driver's wife and one child slightly injured. Now it appears to have been a very small explosion, with some rubbish refuse burning in that area. It's quite possible it was a piece of unexploded ordnance that had been lying around, as many pieces do in this city. Perhaps the burning refuse triggered it to explode.

Earlier in the day, however, Iraq's former defense minister, General Sultan Hashim Ahmad, turned himself over to coalition forces. He'd used a mediator to negotiate over a period of several weeks to try and get better terms. He wanted to be treated with dignity and respect, indeed, when he handed himself over to General Petraeus (ph), the commander of the 101st Airborne in Mosul, according to the former Iraqi defense minister's brothers, the U.S. general saluted him and shook his hand before taking him into custody. General Ahmad had wanted to make sure he would be properly treated, and that his medical condition as a diabetic -- that he would be properly taken care of in coalition custody.

Also today, 55 Iraqis arrested in the town of Tikrit. That following up on the deaths of three U.S. soldiers. The wounding of two others in those overnight raids in Tikrit. On Thursday night, there were multiple raids in that town. And during those raids, those soldiers were killed. Two other wounded. And late this afternoon in Baghdad, on a highway south of Baghdad, another explosion hitting a U.S. convoy -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Nic, why did U.S. forces treat General Ahmad with such kid gloves?

ROBERTSON: Well, there could be many reasons. What the coalition is telling us is they're not saying they're giving him any special privileges. He wanted to be taken off that list of 55 most wanted Iraqis. He wanted to be taken off that deck off cards. They're not saying that's happened. They could do this, because they want to encourage others to hand themselves in and do this. They could do this because they don't want to risk soldiers' lives in trying a hostile arrest. They could be doing this, because they think when he was arrested he might now provide them with more information. We don't know of any breakthroughs the coalition has had so far with the other detainees. And they may, of course, be hoping that part of this negotiated surrender of the commander of Iraqi's forces might lead to a lowering of the attacks on U.S. forces here -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very 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