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CNN Saturday Morning News
Iraqis Protest Against U.S. on Streets of Baghdad
Aired April 26, 2003 - 11:02 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As you just saw about a minute ago, angry Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad to protest against the U.S., blaming it for today's deadly explosions. CNN's Jim Clancy joins us live from the Iraqi capital. Jim, what's the scene there now?
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's look first at the casualties, Anderson. We've got -- we know now six dead, both the U.S. military and the Red Cross agree there are six dead. Now, the number of wounded varies greatly, the U.S. figures are much lower. The Red Cross is saying that it has a total of some 50 wounded, that would seem about right as one of the hospitals in the area said that they had almost -- had taken in almost 30 of those wounded. Remember, this was a massive ammo dump, ordnance was flying everywhere. We saw a missile go skyward it appeared to break apart and then come straight down into a residential neighborhood.
By the time we got there, this is how it looked on the scene. Angry residents and residents that were clawing with their bare hands to get through the rubble to dig out anyone that might still be alive, in fact they had succeeded. One young man about 16 years of age was taken out, he was still alive however, others inside of that home were killed. It was a huge crater; it must have been two or more hundred pounds explosives inside there.
Nearby at a mosque, a number of women there were including a young girl who was wounded, they were up against the wall. One of our -- the members of our CNN team treated the girl; she had the most serious injuries, appearing caused by flying debris. Meantime, at the Zonaforia (ph) Hospital, the scene there also taking in a number of wounded people that had been injured in the blast that -- in that residential neighborhood.
It was only about an hour or two later, the demonstrators showed up here at Palestine Hotel, that's the center for the international media. They were denouncing the United States for this incident as you reported, there had been some people at the scene saying only two or three days earlier, they had talked with U.S. military officials, asking them to move that ammunition dump out of a residential area. It was some distance away, but there were so many munitions there. The U.S. military, though, says it wasn't any accident that caused this explosion in the first place. They're very clear here that unknown attackers came in and fired an incendiary device into the ammunition dump that touched off this tragedy -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jim Clancy, live in Baghdad, thanks very much.
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 26, 2003 - 11:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As you just saw about a minute ago, angry Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad to protest against the U.S., blaming it for today's deadly explosions. CNN's Jim Clancy joins us live from the Iraqi capital. Jim, what's the scene there now?
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's look first at the casualties, Anderson. We've got -- we know now six dead, both the U.S. military and the Red Cross agree there are six dead. Now, the number of wounded varies greatly, the U.S. figures are much lower. The Red Cross is saying that it has a total of some 50 wounded, that would seem about right as one of the hospitals in the area said that they had almost -- had taken in almost 30 of those wounded. Remember, this was a massive ammo dump, ordnance was flying everywhere. We saw a missile go skyward it appeared to break apart and then come straight down into a residential neighborhood.
By the time we got there, this is how it looked on the scene. Angry residents and residents that were clawing with their bare hands to get through the rubble to dig out anyone that might still be alive, in fact they had succeeded. One young man about 16 years of age was taken out, he was still alive however, others inside of that home were killed. It was a huge crater; it must have been two or more hundred pounds explosives inside there.
Nearby at a mosque, a number of women there were including a young girl who was wounded, they were up against the wall. One of our -- the members of our CNN team treated the girl; she had the most serious injuries, appearing caused by flying debris. Meantime, at the Zonaforia (ph) Hospital, the scene there also taking in a number of wounded people that had been injured in the blast that -- in that residential neighborhood.
It was only about an hour or two later, the demonstrators showed up here at Palestine Hotel, that's the center for the international media. They were denouncing the United States for this incident as you reported, there had been some people at the scene saying only two or three days earlier, they had talked with U.S. military officials, asking them to move that ammunition dump out of a residential area. It was some distance away, but there were so many munitions there. The U.S. military, though, says it wasn't any accident that caused this explosion in the first place. They're very clear here that unknown attackers came in and fired an incendiary device into the ammunition dump that touched off this tragedy -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jim Clancy, live in Baghdad, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
