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American Morning

Clashes in Town of Fallujah

Aired April 30, 2003 - 07:33   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Again today, clashes in the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. The second time already this week. Now U.S. troops firing back at Iraqi demonstrators. On Monday, at least 15 Iraqis, including three boys under the age of 11, were killed in a confrontation there. CENTCOM saying that they fired first, the Iraqis, and the U.S. soldiers were simply there to protect themselves.
Now, with what's happening today, we want to get to Karl Penhaul by way of telephone, again, near the scene there west of Baghdad -- Karl, good afternoon.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.

We spent part of the morning down at Fallujah General Hospital. We seem now to have got an independent confirmation of the casualties from this morning's demonstration. The duty doctor down there tells us two Iraqi civilians were killed, 15 others were wounded. He says all of the injuries were caused by gunshot wounds.

This demonstration this morning was a group of several hundred people. They marched to a base here about 300 meters from the scene of Monday's shortage. They precisely went to protest against the 15 deaths, again in a shooting incident earlier this week.

We've spoken to the captain in charge of the company, of the U.S. soldiers, and he says that firing came from the crowd first. He said that a member of the crowd pulled an AK-47s assault rifle and fired at a U.S. convoy as it drove past the site of the demonstration. He says at that point, his men inside the U.S. compound fired a couple of warning shots and he believes, what he says he believes is that members of the U.S. convoy that were driving by then opened fire and then, in the process of that, is when the casualties occurred -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl Penhaul again by telephone in Fallujah. All this and the atmosphere today brings Donald Rumsfeld to Baghdad. In fact, we will hear his speech live in a couple hours here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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 April 30, 2003 - 07:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Again today, clashes in the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. The second time already this week. Now U.S. troops firing back at Iraqi demonstrators. On Monday, at least 15 Iraqis, including three boys under the age of 11, were killed in a confrontation there. CENTCOM saying that they fired first, the Iraqis, and the U.S. soldiers were simply there to protect themselves.
Now, with what's happening today, we want to get to Karl Penhaul by way of telephone, again, near the scene there west of Baghdad -- Karl, good afternoon.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.

We spent part of the morning down at Fallujah General Hospital. We seem now to have got an independent confirmation of the casualties from this morning's demonstration. The duty doctor down there tells us two Iraqi civilians were killed, 15 others were wounded. He says all of the injuries were caused by gunshot wounds.

This demonstration this morning was a group of several hundred people. They marched to a base here about 300 meters from the scene of Monday's shortage. They precisely went to protest against the 15 deaths, again in a shooting incident earlier this week.

We've spoken to the captain in charge of the company, of the U.S. soldiers, and he says that firing came from the crowd first. He said that a member of the crowd pulled an AK-47s assault rifle and fired at a U.S. convoy as it drove past the site of the demonstration. He says at that point, his men inside the U.S. compound fired a couple of warning shots and he believes, what he says he believes is that members of the U.S. convoy that were driving by then opened fire and then, in the process of that, is when the casualties occurred -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl Penhaul again by telephone in Fallujah. All this and the atmosphere today brings Donald Rumsfeld to Baghdad. In fact, we will hear his speech live in a couple hours here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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