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American Morning
More Violence in Iraqi City of Fallujah
Aired May 01, 2003 - 07:37 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: On to Iraq now. More anger and violence in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. At least five U.S. soldiers were injured in a grenade attack. It's the third such incident in less than a week.
Our Karl Penhaul is live in Fallujah. He brings us up to date -- hello, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Behind me, in fact, the U.S. compound that came under attack last night. I've talked to Colonel Toby Green (ph). He's the commander in charge of the unit there. He tells me that after dark last night two men dressed in civilian clothes were walking around the perimeter of the compound. They got round towards the rear and opened fire with small arms. They also tossed two grenades into the compound. Those, of course, exploded in the area where the vehicles are, the Humvees, the Bradley fighting vehicles. And he tells me that seven soldiers were injured.
He tells me that those weren't life threatening injuries, in fact, slight injuries. But the soldiers have been taken out for precautionary measures and they're receiving treatment elsewhere.
This, of course, though, Carol, does come after three days of very intense protests by the local inhabitants. They want to see U.S. troops out here. In the course of those protests over the last three days, though, the American soldiers have opened fire on those crowds. The circumstances of the shootings, why that shooting took place, still unclear, under investigation. What we do know, though, that 17 Iraqi civilians have died this week and around 65 others have been wounded -- Carol.
COSTELLO: As for how the U.S. military is providing security there, has anything changed on that front?
PENHAUL: Not really. The local townsfolk and the, their civil leaders have asked the U.S. forces to actually withdraw from the town altogether. Their view is that the security problems didn't, in fact, start until the American forces set up a base here. So they have asked them to withdraw from residential areas and particularly from sensitive buildings such as schools, which is where one of the U.S. units was camped out until Tuesday night -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, they pulled out of that school. Are they going to take the advice of the locals there and get out of Fallujah? PENHAUL: Not so far. Having talked to Colonel Green, he said that the security situation is not safe so far. He still believes that members of the old regime are trying to stir up trouble in the area and so he says that the U.S. forces are not at a stage where they can talk of withdrawing from the town completely -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Karl Penhaul, many thanks, live from Fallujah in Iraq this 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 May 1, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to Iraq now. More anger and violence in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. At least five U.S. soldiers were injured in a grenade attack. It's the third such incident in less than a week.
Our Karl Penhaul is live in Fallujah. He brings us up to date -- hello, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Behind me, in fact, the U.S. compound that came under attack last night. I've talked to Colonel Toby Green (ph). He's the commander in charge of the unit there. He tells me that after dark last night two men dressed in civilian clothes were walking around the perimeter of the compound. They got round towards the rear and opened fire with small arms. They also tossed two grenades into the compound. Those, of course, exploded in the area where the vehicles are, the Humvees, the Bradley fighting vehicles. And he tells me that seven soldiers were injured.
He tells me that those weren't life threatening injuries, in fact, slight injuries. But the soldiers have been taken out for precautionary measures and they're receiving treatment elsewhere.
This, of course, though, Carol, does come after three days of very intense protests by the local inhabitants. They want to see U.S. troops out here. In the course of those protests over the last three days, though, the American soldiers have opened fire on those crowds. The circumstances of the shootings, why that shooting took place, still unclear, under investigation. What we do know, though, that 17 Iraqi civilians have died this week and around 65 others have been wounded -- Carol.
COSTELLO: As for how the U.S. military is providing security there, has anything changed on that front?
PENHAUL: Not really. The local townsfolk and the, their civil leaders have asked the U.S. forces to actually withdraw from the town altogether. Their view is that the security problems didn't, in fact, start until the American forces set up a base here. So they have asked them to withdraw from residential areas and particularly from sensitive buildings such as schools, which is where one of the U.S. units was camped out until Tuesday night -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, they pulled out of that school. Are they going to take the advice of the locals there and get out of Fallujah? PENHAUL: Not so far. Having talked to Colonel Green, he said that the security situation is not safe so far. He still believes that members of the old regime are trying to stir up trouble in the area and so he says that the U.S. forces are not at a stage where they can talk of withdrawing from the town completely -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Karl Penhaul, many thanks, live from Fallujah in Iraq this 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
