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American Morning
In Iraq, Holy Month of Ramadan Began with Series of Bombings
Aired October 27, 2003 - 08:09 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 CORRESPONDENT: In Baghdad, the holy month of Ramadan began with a series of bombings that terrorized the capital. At least 30 were killed, including two U.S. soldiers. Ten dead at the Red Cross headquarters in the center of the city and the rest in attacks at a series of police stations.
Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad to bring us up to date on what is one of the bloodiest days we can recall since the U.S. occupation -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, a bloody, bloody day, indeed.
It began at 8:30 in the morning here Baghdad local time when am ambulance or a van that seemed to be marked with Red Crescent emblems drove into a barricade outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. It exploded, causing massive damage in that area. At least 10 people killed, around two dozen people wounded.
Now, the Red Cross has prided itself on being an organization that had close contact with the Iraqi people and therefore the security measures outside their headquarters were not as stringent as you would find outside other diplomatic missions and coalition offices.
Now, this bombing was just the first of the day. It was followed by three others outside police stations around the city and two apparently failed attempts at car bombings. The total death toll is somewhere around 30. We did hear just a few minutes ago from the Iraqi deputy interior minister, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim, who put the total number at 34 dead. He said that around 224 people had been wounded.
Now, in one of these averted car bombings, apparently what happened was a bomb, rather, a car loaded with explosives, five boxes of TNT, according to one account, was rushing toward a police station. Police opened fire. They shot the driver, were able to stop the car. They interrogated him. Apparently, according to Iraqi police, he is a Syrian national.
Now, in addition to all this bloodshed in Baghdad itself, you had two separate incidents involving U.S. troops. In one, two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. In another, another American soldier was killed in a mortar attack.
So, Miles, a very, very bloody day, indeed.
O'BRIEN: Ben, the Red Cross, not unlike the U.N., makes it a point to have sort of a low threshold of security outside its gates for, I guess, it should be obvious reasons to our viewers. They're trying to do good works over there. Are they reevaluating?
WEDEMAN: Well, they certainly are. And we already know that they have reduced their international staff since August, when the U.N. bombing occurred, the bombing of the U.N. headquarters. They've reduced their international staff to 13 and obviously they're going to have to reevaluate once again.
Now, we have seen, over the last two and a half months, an exodus of staff from international organizations. Oxfam, the United Nations, the latest is the Bulgarian embassy, which yesterday announced that they would be pulling out their diplomatic staff.
So it appears that the security situation is something that all organizations are going to be reevaluating -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
CNN's Ben Wedeman in Baghdad.
Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Bombings>
Aired October 27, 2003 - 08:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Baghdad, the holy month of Ramadan began with a series of bombings that terrorized the capital. At least 30 were killed, including two U.S. soldiers. Ten dead at the Red Cross headquarters in the center of the city and the rest in attacks at a series of police stations.
Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad to bring us up to date on what is one of the bloodiest days we can recall since the U.S. occupation -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, a bloody, bloody day, indeed.
It began at 8:30 in the morning here Baghdad local time when am ambulance or a van that seemed to be marked with Red Crescent emblems drove into a barricade outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. It exploded, causing massive damage in that area. At least 10 people killed, around two dozen people wounded.
Now, the Red Cross has prided itself on being an organization that had close contact with the Iraqi people and therefore the security measures outside their headquarters were not as stringent as you would find outside other diplomatic missions and coalition offices.
Now, this bombing was just the first of the day. It was followed by three others outside police stations around the city and two apparently failed attempts at car bombings. The total death toll is somewhere around 30. We did hear just a few minutes ago from the Iraqi deputy interior minister, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim, who put the total number at 34 dead. He said that around 224 people had been wounded.
Now, in one of these averted car bombings, apparently what happened was a bomb, rather, a car loaded with explosives, five boxes of TNT, according to one account, was rushing toward a police station. Police opened fire. They shot the driver, were able to stop the car. They interrogated him. Apparently, according to Iraqi police, he is a Syrian national.
Now, in addition to all this bloodshed in Baghdad itself, you had two separate incidents involving U.S. troops. In one, two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. In another, another American soldier was killed in a mortar attack.
So, Miles, a very, very bloody day, indeed.
O'BRIEN: Ben, the Red Cross, not unlike the U.N., makes it a point to have sort of a low threshold of security outside its gates for, I guess, it should be obvious reasons to our viewers. They're trying to do good works over there. Are they reevaluating?
WEDEMAN: Well, they certainly are. And we already know that they have reduced their international staff since August, when the U.N. bombing occurred, the bombing of the U.N. headquarters. They've reduced their international staff to 13 and obviously they're going to have to reevaluate once again.
Now, we have seen, over the last two and a half months, an exodus of staff from international organizations. Oxfam, the United Nations, the latest is the Bulgarian embassy, which yesterday announced that they would be pulling out their diplomatic staff.
So it appears that the security situation is something that all organizations are going to be reevaluating -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
CNN's Ben Wedeman in Baghdad.
Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Bombings>
