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American Morning

Troops in Danger in Iraq

Aired June 27, 2003 - 07:07   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 U.S. soldier was killed near Najaf in southern Iraq. The military announced that this morning.
Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with an update on that.

Hello -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, yes, a U.S. soldier attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary force was killed in an ambush in An-Najaf in southern Iraq apparently while he was investigating a car theft. Now, this attack is causing some concern here, because most of the attacks, of course, have been in Baghdad. The south has generally been considered more friendly to the presence of U.S. forces.

Now, since President Bush declared major combat was over several weeks ago, more than 60 U.S. forces have been killed in Iraq and more than 20 of them have been killed by hostile fire.

Today, U.S. forces are still searching north of Baghdad for two soldiers who have been missing since Wednesday. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq saying three people are now being questioned in regard to that incident.

But yesterday a very tough day for U.S. forces. In another incident in Baghdad, one special operations service member was killed and eight wounded on a road near the airport. That ambush was believed to have involved remote-controlled explosives, signaling, as one source said, a very well planned out ambush, a planned attack.

One military official now saying that it is the view here that U.S. forces are facing what they call an urban guerrilla force, and that this is now a classic phase of insurgency.

And also yesterday in an almost forgotten area now in Afghanistan, another U.S. special forces service member was killed and two wounded in an ambush in the eastern portion of that country -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

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 June 27, 2003 - 07:07   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 U.S. soldier was killed near Najaf in southern Iraq. The military announced that this morning.
Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with an update on that.

Hello -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, yes, a U.S. soldier attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary force was killed in an ambush in An-Najaf in southern Iraq apparently while he was investigating a car theft. Now, this attack is causing some concern here, because most of the attacks, of course, have been in Baghdad. The south has generally been considered more friendly to the presence of U.S. forces.

Now, since President Bush declared major combat was over several weeks ago, more than 60 U.S. forces have been killed in Iraq and more than 20 of them have been killed by hostile fire.

Today, U.S. forces are still searching north of Baghdad for two soldiers who have been missing since Wednesday. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq saying three people are now being questioned in regard to that incident.

But yesterday a very tough day for U.S. forces. In another incident in Baghdad, one special operations service member was killed and eight wounded on a road near the airport. That ambush was believed to have involved remote-controlled explosives, signaling, as one source said, a very well planned out ambush, a planned attack.

One military official now saying that it is the view here that U.S. forces are facing what they call an urban guerrilla force, and that this is now a classic phase of insurgency.

And also yesterday in an almost forgotten area now in Afghanistan, another U.S. special forces service member was killed and two wounded in an ambush in the eastern portion of that country -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

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