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Another Deadly Attack in Iraq
Aired August 07, 2003 - 05:07 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Another deadly attack in Iraq. This time a huge explosion at the Jordan embassy in Baghdad.
Let's go live to the Iraqi capital now to Rym Brahimi -- tell us what happened, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, we spoke to a U.S. military spokesman on the scene, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Nunce (ph). Now, he says that eight to 10 people were killed in an explosion. They're believed to have been Iraqi civilians who happened to be passing by at the time. There's an estimated 30 to 40 people that were wounded. It seems that there was a huge car explosion right in front of the Jordanian embassy here in Baghdad.
Now, we spoke to Jordanian officials, as well, Carol, and they say that there are slight injuries among those that were inside the embassy compound, but no casualties. There was also a lot of debris all around the place. The facade of the building was destroyed. The U.S. military, for now, have cordoned off the area.
But, of course, there's a lot of, they're still assessing the situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand that after the explosion that some Iraqis ran into the Jordanian embassy and began tearing down pictures of King Hussein and King Abdullah.
BRAHIMI: We understand, indeed, Carol, that there was a lot of -- there was looting that took place after the explosion. Apparently a group of people just went in and started pulling things out and also they started burning pictures of King Abdullah II, the king of Jordan, as well as pictures of his late father, King Hussein.
Now, again, Jordanian officials strongly condemn this action. They say they have no idea where it may -- who may be behind it, but they say that they continue their support with regards to the Iraqi people's quest for stability and security in Iraq.
That said, again, they very strongly condemn this action and there's no idea for the time being who might have been behind it. But it is definitely a very big explosion. The nature of it is a different scale than the attacks we've seen in the past few weeks against U.S. troops here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, we know there is no love lost between Iraq and Jordan. But just a few days ago Jordan granted sanctuary to Saddam's daughters. Could that have anything to do with this?
BRAHIMI: Well, it, there's an array of possibilities. Definitely when King Abdullah of Jordan granted humanitarian asylum to the two daughters of the former Iraqi president, there was a lot of criticism here, especially among some of the newspapers and among some of the former exiles who had just returned to Iraq. Now, there was also the other issue, and that is that Jordan has been explicitly threatened by a number of Islamist groups. Even groups like al Qaeda have threatened Jordan explicitly. Now, of course, we're only speculating here. We still don't know anything about who might be behind this explosion. But definitely, I mean the U.S. mil -- U.S. officials have acknowledged the presence. They say there is clear evidence of foreign fighters here in Iraq.
And so, you know, all these are possibilities for the time being -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll let you go so you can gather more information for us.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad this morning.
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 August 7, 2003 - 05:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Another deadly attack in Iraq. This time a huge explosion at the Jordan embassy in Baghdad.
Let's go live to the Iraqi capital now to Rym Brahimi -- tell us what happened, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, we spoke to a U.S. military spokesman on the scene, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Nunce (ph). Now, he says that eight to 10 people were killed in an explosion. They're believed to have been Iraqi civilians who happened to be passing by at the time. There's an estimated 30 to 40 people that were wounded. It seems that there was a huge car explosion right in front of the Jordanian embassy here in Baghdad.
Now, we spoke to Jordanian officials, as well, Carol, and they say that there are slight injuries among those that were inside the embassy compound, but no casualties. There was also a lot of debris all around the place. The facade of the building was destroyed. The U.S. military, for now, have cordoned off the area.
But, of course, there's a lot of, they're still assessing the situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand that after the explosion that some Iraqis ran into the Jordanian embassy and began tearing down pictures of King Hussein and King Abdullah.
BRAHIMI: We understand, indeed, Carol, that there was a lot of -- there was looting that took place after the explosion. Apparently a group of people just went in and started pulling things out and also they started burning pictures of King Abdullah II, the king of Jordan, as well as pictures of his late father, King Hussein.
Now, again, Jordanian officials strongly condemn this action. They say they have no idea where it may -- who may be behind it, but they say that they continue their support with regards to the Iraqi people's quest for stability and security in Iraq.
That said, again, they very strongly condemn this action and there's no idea for the time being who might have been behind it. But it is definitely a very big explosion. The nature of it is a different scale than the attacks we've seen in the past few weeks against U.S. troops here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, we know there is no love lost between Iraq and Jordan. But just a few days ago Jordan granted sanctuary to Saddam's daughters. Could that have anything to do with this?
BRAHIMI: Well, it, there's an array of possibilities. Definitely when King Abdullah of Jordan granted humanitarian asylum to the two daughters of the former Iraqi president, there was a lot of criticism here, especially among some of the newspapers and among some of the former exiles who had just returned to Iraq. Now, there was also the other issue, and that is that Jordan has been explicitly threatened by a number of Islamist groups. Even groups like al Qaeda have threatened Jordan explicitly. Now, of course, we're only speculating here. We still don't know anything about who might be behind this explosion. But definitely, I mean the U.S. mil -- U.S. officials have acknowledged the presence. They say there is clear evidence of foreign fighters here in Iraq.
And so, you know, all these are possibilities for the time being -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll let you go so you can gather more information for us.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
