Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
One American Soldier Killed, One Wounded Today in Baghdad
Aired November 09, 2003 - 09:30 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The latest American casualties in Baghdad are one soldier killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb. And military sources now believe the Blackhawk helicopter that crashed Friday was brought down by a missile. CNN's Ben Wedeman is going to give us the very latest on both of these stories, joining us live from Baghdad. Good morning to you, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello, Heidi. That attack on U.S. forces took place about 7:45 p.m. yesterday in the el Wahda (ph) neighborhood of Baghdad. One soldier from the 1st armored division was killed and another wounded when their convoy passed by a roadside bomb. These roadside bombs proving to be quite a problem for the coalition. Two other soldiers were killed yesterday as well outside Fallujah by a similar bomb. This brings to 37 the number of coalition troops killed since the beginning of the month. All of them, with the exception of one member of the Polish contingent, were Americans.
Now, meanwhile, we are hearing from military sources with the 4th infantry division in Tikrit that they now have indications that that Blackhawk helicopter that went down on Friday was hit by a Strela 3 low altitude surface-to-air missile. This is not conclusive, but this is what one source is telling us, that the indications are that was the cause of that downing.
Now, this problem of surface-to-air missiles, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, is increasingly worrying the coalition here. There are apparently hundreds of them in circulation since the war. The coalition is offering a $500 cash reward to anyone who brings them in. We heard that for instance in Mosul, in northern Iraq, five of those missiles were surrendered by somebody eager for that cash. But obviously there are many more out there. The coalition is concerned. Heidi?
COLLINS: Speaking of that, I know there are raids going on by the coalition and members of the Iraqi security forces. Can you give us a sense of how successful those raids are right now?
WEDEMAN: Well, according to coalition spokespeople, they are fairly successful. Almost every day there are raids going on. We heard one raid in Mosul that brought in a fairly large cache of weaponry, including hundreds of grenades and rocket-propelled grenades. The problem is that every time they bring in some, there's so much more out there that it's hard to say whether at this point it's making much of a dent. You have to remember before the war, the regime of Saddam Hussein put weapons in all sorts of places, in schools, in public buildings, and it's taking time to find out where all of those caches are. And of course, we are hearing of daily arrests of people involved in attacks. But it seems like for every one person arrested, there's a new member coming up to join this fairly disorganized and, by and large, anonymous resistance. Heidi?
COLLINS: CNN's Ben Wedeman. Thanks so much for the very latest from Baghdad.
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 November 9, 2003 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The latest American casualties in Baghdad are one soldier killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb. And military sources now believe the Blackhawk helicopter that crashed Friday was brought down by a missile. CNN's Ben Wedeman is going to give us the very latest on both of these stories, joining us live from Baghdad. Good morning to you, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello, Heidi. That attack on U.S. forces took place about 7:45 p.m. yesterday in the el Wahda (ph) neighborhood of Baghdad. One soldier from the 1st armored division was killed and another wounded when their convoy passed by a roadside bomb. These roadside bombs proving to be quite a problem for the coalition. Two other soldiers were killed yesterday as well outside Fallujah by a similar bomb. This brings to 37 the number of coalition troops killed since the beginning of the month. All of them, with the exception of one member of the Polish contingent, were Americans.
Now, meanwhile, we are hearing from military sources with the 4th infantry division in Tikrit that they now have indications that that Blackhawk helicopter that went down on Friday was hit by a Strela 3 low altitude surface-to-air missile. This is not conclusive, but this is what one source is telling us, that the indications are that was the cause of that downing.
Now, this problem of surface-to-air missiles, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, is increasingly worrying the coalition here. There are apparently hundreds of them in circulation since the war. The coalition is offering a $500 cash reward to anyone who brings them in. We heard that for instance in Mosul, in northern Iraq, five of those missiles were surrendered by somebody eager for that cash. But obviously there are many more out there. The coalition is concerned. Heidi?
COLLINS: Speaking of that, I know there are raids going on by the coalition and members of the Iraqi security forces. Can you give us a sense of how successful those raids are right now?
WEDEMAN: Well, according to coalition spokespeople, they are fairly successful. Almost every day there are raids going on. We heard one raid in Mosul that brought in a fairly large cache of weaponry, including hundreds of grenades and rocket-propelled grenades. The problem is that every time they bring in some, there's so much more out there that it's hard to say whether at this point it's making much of a dent. You have to remember before the war, the regime of Saddam Hussein put weapons in all sorts of places, in schools, in public buildings, and it's taking time to find out where all of those caches are. And of course, we are hearing of daily arrests of people involved in attacks. But it seems like for every one person arrested, there's a new member coming up to join this fairly disorganized and, by and large, anonymous resistance. Heidi?
COLLINS: CNN's Ben Wedeman. Thanks so much for the very latest from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
