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CNN Saturday Morning News
Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Latest Attack in Iraq
Aired November 08, 2003 - 08:05 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: Back to Iraq now for more on the latest attacks on U.S. forces there.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad -- Ben, what can you tell us at this hour? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, well, the latest attack on coalition forces occurred this morning just outside of Falluja, a city west of Baghdad, when two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were killed when their armored personnel carrier drove by a roadside bomb. Now, this brings to 35, more than 35, in fact, the number of coalition forces killed within the last seven days alone. Now, that explosion was caused clearly by a very large roadside bomb. An armored personnel carrier should be able to deflect some fairly large explosives.
Now, the blast itself caused secondary explosions inside the armored personnel carrier when ammunition inside it blew up, making it more difficult for anyone to rescue those who were inside the vehicle.
Now, meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross has announced from Geneva, its headquarters, that it will be closing its offices in Baghdad, as well as Basra, in the southern part of the country. This follows a security review in the aftermath of the 27th of October car bombing right outside their headquarters here. That bombing left 12 people dead, including two Iraqi employees of the Red Cross.
Now, until now the International Red Cross had an international staff of 30 and around 600 Iraqis working for it. They said after that bombing, that they would be maintaining their current level of activity in the country, but clearly with their two main offices closing, that's going to stop -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, Ben, you know, there has been quite a bit of talk about the increasing of sophistication of these attacks, in particular, attacks like these with the improvised explosive devices.
What's the word now? What are you hearing?
WEDEMAN: Well, it appears that the resistance or whatever you'd like to call it is clearly getting more sophisticated in terms of the size and placing of their explosives. We see that in the last two weeks they've been able to shoot down three coalition helicopters, which is an alarming jump in that statistic. There's only been one other helicopter shot down, and that was back in May. So there is -- there seems to be a growing consensus here in Baghdad that, if anything, the insurgency is gaining ground, is becoming more sophisticated. Their weapons are better. Their bombs are better and possibly even their intelligence is better.
So certainly we, the expectation is that they are going to increase their activities and not the other way around -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Not what we want to hear.
All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much, live from Baghdad this morning.
And also we want to let you know Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has scheduled a news conference in Baghdad. That will happen around 8:45 Eastern and we will carry it for you live right here on CNN.
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 8, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Iraq now for more on the latest attacks on U.S. forces there.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad -- Ben, what can you tell us at this hour? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, well, the latest attack on coalition forces occurred this morning just outside of Falluja, a city west of Baghdad, when two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were killed when their armored personnel carrier drove by a roadside bomb. Now, this brings to 35, more than 35, in fact, the number of coalition forces killed within the last seven days alone. Now, that explosion was caused clearly by a very large roadside bomb. An armored personnel carrier should be able to deflect some fairly large explosives.
Now, the blast itself caused secondary explosions inside the armored personnel carrier when ammunition inside it blew up, making it more difficult for anyone to rescue those who were inside the vehicle.
Now, meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross has announced from Geneva, its headquarters, that it will be closing its offices in Baghdad, as well as Basra, in the southern part of the country. This follows a security review in the aftermath of the 27th of October car bombing right outside their headquarters here. That bombing left 12 people dead, including two Iraqi employees of the Red Cross.
Now, until now the International Red Cross had an international staff of 30 and around 600 Iraqis working for it. They said after that bombing, that they would be maintaining their current level of activity in the country, but clearly with their two main offices closing, that's going to stop -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, Ben, you know, there has been quite a bit of talk about the increasing of sophistication of these attacks, in particular, attacks like these with the improvised explosive devices.
What's the word now? What are you hearing?
WEDEMAN: Well, it appears that the resistance or whatever you'd like to call it is clearly getting more sophisticated in terms of the size and placing of their explosives. We see that in the last two weeks they've been able to shoot down three coalition helicopters, which is an alarming jump in that statistic. There's only been one other helicopter shot down, and that was back in May. So there is -- there seems to be a growing consensus here in Baghdad that, if anything, the insurgency is gaining ground, is becoming more sophisticated. Their weapons are better. Their bombs are better and possibly even their intelligence is better.
So certainly we, the expectation is that they are going to increase their activities and not the other way around -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Not what we want to hear.
All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much, live from Baghdad this morning.
And also we want to let you know Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has scheduled a news conference in Baghdad. That will happen around 8:45 Eastern and we will carry it for you live right here on CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
