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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

British Troops Attacked Near Amarah in Iraq

Aired June 25, 2003 - 06:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Who and how are two big questions out of Iraq this morning. Eight British soldiers are killed, killed in a targeted attack near the city of Amarah.
Ben Wedeman is live in southern Iraq.

First off, Ben, do we know who pulled off the attack?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Who pulled off the attack? No, we don't. And, in fact, it's very difficult in this town of al- Majar al-Kabir in the southern part of the country to figure out exactly who did what, depending on who you speak with.

Now, however, there are some basic lines to this incident that I think are clear, and basically I will say this: That there was a British patrol in the central market of this town of about 60,000. They had some sort of trouble with local people. Whether that was a stone-throwing incident or something else, it quickly deteriorated to the point where there was a large crowd around that British patrol, and they came to this police station here, where they tried to take refuge.

Now, following them was this crowd, and the crowd apparently grew larger and larger, rumors spreading throughout the town that there would be intrusive searches by British forces, British forces looking for banned weapons.

Now, according to a British military officer in a base just outside of town, there had been an agreement between the British and the local police that they would not carry out any searches for a certain period of time, during which it was hoped that the local police would help them collect the weapons. However, this agreement was not well-known to everybody. People apparently in the town thought that these searches would take place.

Now, what happened was that the troops, the British military police, they took refuge here. A large crowd assembled, a gunfire -- a gunfight broke out, and during that gunfight 4 Iraqis were killed, 17 wounded, and the 6 British military police were killed. That's about as much as we can say with any certainty at this point now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman reporting live from southern Iraq this morning.

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