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Length: 2:52
TONY HARRIS: And this
just in to CNN. Mortar attacks going on right now in
Baghdad. CNN's Michael Ware is there. Michael, what
can you tell us?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, what I can
tell you is that right behind me, just a couple of
kilometers, there's a number of explosions and smoke
plumes rising. The detonations are still going on as
I'm speaking to you. There's another one right now.
We believe from where we are that these sound like
impacts within an area known as Adhamiya. Now, this
all fits into a bigger, hellish picture here in
Baghdad today.
What we've seen is fury and rage erupt in Sadr City,
the stronghold of the Mahdi Army. The explosions are
continuing behind me, even as I'm talking. This is
home to 2.5 to 3 million people loyal to
anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Now, Americans went in there raiding this morning,
looking for the missing soldier. There was some kind
of an exchange, and a minibus was destroyed, some
people killed and hurt.
But, what we had this afternoon, as we see, this area
coming under full-blown assault. In the period of
half an hour, three car bombs detonated in this
densely populated ghetto. Mortar rounds impacted,
killing even more as they came to the rescue.
At about the same time elsewhere in the city, the
health ministry, controlled by the Mahdi Army
militia, drawn from Sadr City, came under assault
from what we're told is as many as 30 gunmen.
Now what we're having is what's going on behind me.
Mortar rounds or explosions are impacting in a
neighboring suburb known as Adhamiya. It seems that
the people of Sadr City may now be retaliating.
But on the streets of that slum right now there's
flame, there's blood and there's black plumes of
smoke -- Tony.
HARRIS: Michael, you paint the picture of what's
going on in Sadr City. You talk about the explosions
going on not far from your position, all happening in
this small window of time. It sort of begs the
question: Is there a sense that all of this violence
has been coordinated?
WARE: Well, certainly, in terms of the direct assault
on the civilians of Sadr City, the three car bombs
and the mortars -- absolutely, no question. Within 30
minutes, to have three car bombs in crowded
marketplaces -- there's now shots going off just
nearby -- there's a degree of coordination involved
there.
Then we see an assault on a ministry controlled by
the Sadrists. I mean, it certainly begs the question.
There is no Thanksgiving in Baghdad right now. Fury
has erupted.
HARRIS: CNN's Michael Ware for us in Baghdad.
Michael, thank you.
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Length: 2:51
TONY HARRIS: No holiday
from the blood bath in Baghdad. Explosions rocking
the city. Let's get right to CNN's Michael Ware live
in the Iraqi capital. And, Michael, so much violence
to talk about. Sadr City. Mortar rounds exploding
near your location last hour. And, of course, there
was an attack on a health ministry. But let's start
with the violence in Sadr City.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you're
right. There's very little to give thanks for today
here in the capital of Baghdad. It is erupted in
violence here this afternoon. And as night is
falling, we're hearing that from Sadr City the death
count from three, possibly four car bombs this
afternoon has risen to at least 100 people. And there
may be as many as 200 wounded.
What we saw in the period of 30 minutes this
afternoon is three of these car bombs explode in
heavily crowded areas in Sadr City. Sadr City is a
sprawling Shia ghetto, home to about 2.5 to 3 million
people and a stronghold for the Mahdi army militia
loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. On top
of those car bombs came mortars. So that's why we
have this horrific death toll which, sadly, we expect
to rise.
Immediately following that, we saw mortars start to
land in surrounding Sunni neighborhoods as if in
retaliation. So we have neighborhood fighting
neighborhood in what the U.S. military says is not
civil war.
HARRIS: And, Michael, what can you tell us about this
attack on the health ministry?
WARE: All right. Well, right now there's nothing to
directly link it. But there's clearly a pattern
emerging here. Around the same time as these
coordinated car bombings in this Shia ghetto, we had
an attack on the ministry of health building. The
ministry of health is controlled by the same Shia
group, by the Mahdi army and its political front, the
Sadrist current.
So this is an attack on the same political faction,
on the same Shia population. There we saw as many as
30 gunmen assault the Ministry of Health building
with small arms fire and mortars. We're not hearing
of any casualty reports out of that. But it seems
that it has been a direct attack on the Shia
population here this afternoon. And they're not
standing idly by. They're throwing mortars back at
Sunni neighborhoods.
HARRIS: OK. Michael Ware for us in Baghdad. What a
day in Baghdad and throughout much of that city.
Michael, thank you.
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Length: 3:36
TONY HARRIS: Carnage in
the Iraqi capital. Car bombs, massive explosions and
a death toll on the rise.
Let's get you straight to CNN's Michael Ware, live in
Baghdad.
Michael, three to four car bombs go off in Sadr City
in a 30-minute time frame. Pick up the story from
there, please.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what
we're just hearing now is that the death toll out of
these car bombings, all within the period of 30
minutes this afternoon, targeting Shia civilians in
the Sadr City ghetto, has reached at least 144. That
makes it the single greatest attack, civilian attack
since the war began.
There are hundreds of wounded, most of them, many of
them critical. The ministry officials here,
government officials here are telling us that they
expect this death toll to rise. What we've seen here
on a day where there's no thanks to be given
whatsoever, is that at least three car bombs exploded
within 30 minutes, in these crowded marketplaces,
causing these terrible casualties. There's also
reports of mortar or rocket attacks as well. We also
now have further reports that there were other car
bombings on the edge of this Shia ghetto, perhaps
one, perhaps three more.
In retaliation, we've seen mortars lobbed into
surrounding Sunni neighborhoods. So we now have one
neighborhood attacking the other. This is a
full-blown assault here in Iraq, though the U.S.
military still says that this country is not in civil
war.
HARRIS: And Michael, if you would, update us on the
attack, if you would, on the Health Ministry
building.
WARE: Yes, Tony. Well, while pictures are currently
playing on Iraqi television, direct from the
hospitals, showing terrible scenes of wounded
children and men and women, what we also know is
that, around the same time this afternoon as these
terrible car bombs, there was an organized assault in
the heart of the capital on the Ministry of Health
building. This is a ministry that is also controlled
by the same Shia political and militia bloc whose
population was attacked this afternoon in Sadr City.
From what we understand, as many as 30 gunmen laid
siege or assaulted this ministry building with small
arms fire and mortar fire. We have no current figures
on any casualties from that.
So there has been a vicious strike against the Shia
population this afternoon, and we're seeing
retaliatory mortar fire into surrounding Sunni
neighborhoods.
HARRIS: And Michael, can you explain why the lights
are out behind you?
WARE: That the lights are out? Well, this is Baghdad.
There's barely any electricity at the best of times,
and now really isn't a time or a moment to be
illuminating one's self.
I mean, as I stand here, as the expatriates here sit
down to any kind of Thanksgiving dinner, there's
still the sound of explosions around us. There's the
sound of gunfire. There's the sporadic noise of
American jet fighters buzzing overhead, and there's
explosions.
So this is not a time to be lighting anything.
HARRIS: All right, Michael. Be safe.
CNN's Michael Ware for us in Baghdad.
Michael, thank you.