IRAQ: IRAQIS RETURN TO STREETS AFTER OVERNIGHT TARGETED STRIKES BY U.S. LED FORCES ON BAGHDAD/ IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE TREATED IN HOSPITAL

Record ID: 342213

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQIS RETURN TO STREETS AFTER OVERNIGHT TARGETED STRIKES BY U.S. LED FORCES ON BAGHDAD/ IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE TREATED IN HOSPITAL
  • Date: 20th March 2003
  • Summary: (0945) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV: MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI POLICE FORCE ON THE STREETS 0.06 2. MV/SV: MEN IN TRENCHES BY THE ROAD IN THE CITY (2 SHOTS) 0.12 3. WS: CARS DRIVING PAST 0.17 4. SV: VIEW OF INTERIOR OF CAR WITH INJURED MAN (MAHMOUD MUTAID) INSIDE LYING ON THE PASSENGER SEAT 0.27 5. INJURED MAN INSIDE THE CAR/ CLOSE UP OF MAN'S LEG BANDAGED 0.34 6. MV: POLICE WATCHING FROM STREET CORNER SURROUNDED BY SANDBAGS 0.37 (U4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 7. MV: EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL 0.40 8. SV: HAMI AL MARWAHI, INJURED DURING ATTACKS ON BAGHDAD, LYING IN HOSPITAL BED 0.43 9. SCU: MARWAHI'S WOUNDED FEET 0.49 10. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMI AL MARWAHI, INJURED DURING ATTACK ON BAGHDAD, SAYING: "They fired their missile on Baghdad and so I tried to evacuate my sisters to a near-by shelter but when I opened the door, the missile hit so I was wounded in the legs." 1.03 11. PAN: DOCTORS AND NURSES IN HOSPITAL 1.08 12. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DR. KAMAL ASKAR, DIRECTOR OF HOSPITAL SAYING: "This morning five people were brought into the hospital as a result of the airstrike in Baghdad. Two people were treated and they have been released from the hospital but the remaining three need to be operated on." 1.28 13. SV: AHLAM WAHID, WOMAN WHO WAS WOUNDED IN STRIKE 1.42 14. SCU: WAHID'S INJURIES 1.45 15. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AHLAM WAHID, WOMAN WHO WAS WOUNDED IN STRIKE, SAYING: "When the attack began, we wanted to go to the shelter but then something fell on us. There was lots of smoke. Then I started bleeding. There was smoke -- there was an attack." 2.00 16. MV: AMBULANCE PARKED OUTSIDE HOSPITAL 2.07 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 17. SV: IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAHAF WALKING TO PODIUM 2.12 18. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAHAF SAYING: "If those rascals who want to spread hegemony on Iraq, shame be upon them, we will show you all their corpses, we will show how those colonialists will be defeated and knocked down by the heroic Iraqi people. They shelled buildings of the Radio and TV Station, they also shelled buildings belonging to the Customs House, and they shelled civilian areas in the suburbs of Baghdad." 2.58 19. SV: JOURNALISTS LISTENING 3.02 20. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAHAF SAYING: "They said that they shelled Baghdad with 40 cruise missiles, why, they were targeting President Saddam Hussein. The American rulers have declaring that they are "assassins" (English). These are mobs who assassinate." 3.42 21. SV: CAMERAS 3.45 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA63107BGZJCO2NFYAJT5N59L4E
  • Story Text: The Iraqi police have been out on the streets of
    Baghdad in the wake of the targeted strikes overnight. U.S.

    warplane and cruise missile attacks have hit some non-military
    targets, injuring a number of civilians. Iraqi Information
    Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said declaring Iraqi
    President Saddam Hussein a target made the U.S. troops
    "assassins."

    U.S. bombs and cruise missiles hit the Iraqi capital at
    dawn on Thursday (March 20), the opening salvo in a U.S.-led
    war to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

    U.S. officials said the first strike was a limited raid by
    stealth fighters and cruise missiles, aimed at the Iraqi
    leadership. An expected mass bombardment had yet to be
    unleashed, they said.

    A brief all-clear was heard some two and a half hours
    after the initial attack, but minutes later the sirens sounded
    again and several new explosions rocked the outskirts.

    Residents and police were seen on the streets during the
    morning, one man appeared to have been injured by flying
    shrapnel.

    Several people were admitted to hospital hours after the
    dawn air raids on Baghdad.

    "They fired their missile on Baghdad and so I tried to
    evacuate my sisters to a near-by shelter but when I opened the
    door, the missile hit so I was wounded in the legs," said one
    patient.

    "When the attack began, we wanted to go to the shelter but
    then something fell on us. There was lots of smoke. Then I
    started bleeding. There was smoke -- there was an attack,"
    said another.

    Kamal Askar, a doctor at the hospital said: "This morning
    five people were brought into the hospital as a result of the
    airstrike in Baghdad. Two people were treated and they have
    been released from the hospital but the remaining three need
    to be operated on."
    U.S. officials said the aim of the raids was to
    "decapitate" the Iraqi government. They said Saddam and other
    key leaders had been pinpointed by U.S. intelligence agencies,
    prompting them to request an immediate air attack that could
    have changed the course of the war.

    The Iraqi leader appeared on television three hours after
    the strikes on Baghdad, denouncing the "criminal, reckless
    little Bush". Iraq responded to the U.S. attack with several
    missile strikes on northern Kuwait, which caused no
    casualties. U.S. officials said the dawn attack by cruise
    missiles and stealth aircraft, which took even U.S. ally
    Britain by surprise, was an opportunist hit, aimed to kill
    Saddam and his entourage.

    The raids on Baghdad appeared limited and there was no
    sign yet of the awesome display of force predicted by military
    analysts to stun Iraqi troops and sap their will to fight.

    U.S. President George W. Bush said American and British
    forces had struck "selected targets of military importance"
    yet Iraqi officials said that war planes and missiles shelled
    civilian targets.

    Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said
    that the forces invading Iraq would be defeated. He also
    accused the U.S. of shelling civilian areas.

    "If those rascals who want to spread hegemony on Iraq,
    shame be upon them, we will show you all their corpses, we
    will show how those colonialists will be defeated and knocked
    down by the heroic Iraqi people.

    They shelled buildings of the radio and TV station, they
    also shelled buildings belonging to the Customs House, and
    they shelled civilian areas in the suburbs of Baghdad,"
    al-Sahaf told a news conference after the first U.S. strikes
    on Baghdad.

    Al-Sahaf said that by declaring Iraqi President Saddam
    Hussein a target, U.S. troops admitted they were "assassins."
    "They said that they shelled Baghdad with 40 cruise
    missiles, why, they were targeting President Saddam Hussein.

    The American rulers have declaring that they are "assassins"
    (English). These are mobs who assassinate," al-Sahaf said.



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