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CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS
Explosion Kills 7 in Iraq
Aired July 5, 2003 - 09:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to Iraq, where an explosion as well took place on graduation day. It has left at least seven Iraqi police recruits dead in the western city of Ramadi.
CNN's Nic Robertson joins us by phone with this situation. Nic, the latest word as for damage, casualties, assessments, et cetera?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest word, Kris, is that seven police cadets were killed and as many as 40 injured.
Eyewitnesses we talked to at the scene described seeing the recruits walking from a school where they've been undergoing training with U.S. troops, as they have been over the last few weeks, walking down the road to their headquarters.
As they passed a streetlight at the side of the road, there was a blast, the witnesses say, and there were many, many casualties. They describe seeing people with head wounds, arm wounds, leg wounds. Right now, there are still pools of dried blood at the side of the road, beyond shoes and torn clothing.
The injured were taken to a local hospital. When we tried to go to the hospital a few minutes ago to talk to doctors and talk to some of the wounded there, city officials, or people purporting to be in charge of the hospital, were telling journalists to leave the area. They weren't allowing them to talk to doctors, weren't allowing them to talk to the injured.
This is a city that has strong ties to Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party. There still seems to be strong ties at this time. Many of the people we talked to today on the streetside said they blame the U.S. forces for planting this explosion.
However, the police chief told us that he did not believe that, that he thought that there was an effort to create tension between the U.S. forces and the police. The police, he said, were being trained by the U.S. forces at this time. There was no reason for them not to be cooperating.
Indeed, he was trying to explain to the crowd of people gathered around him that the police were in the city to help the people, to bring them security.
So this, at this time, seems to be a major setback in this particular town for the cooperation between U.S. forces and Iraqi police, Kris.
OSBORN: Without a doubt. Thank you very much. CNN's Nic Robertson, detailing the very dramatic situation there in Iraq.
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