Michael Ware

Journalist

LDT: "...the war rages on here in Iraq."


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Length: 2:10


LOU DOBBS: Tonight, Michael Ware reports from Baghdad on the fighting in Iraq.

Jamie McIntyre reports from the Pentagon on the rising number of casualties in this war.

And Ed Henry reports from the White House on the political strategy and deadlock in the conduct of this war.

We turn first to Michael Ware in Baghdad -- Michael.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, it's almost trite to say that the war rages on here in Iraq. In an incident in the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, today, 16 American soldiers were wounded in this one engagement alone.

According to the U.S. military, it started at about 7:00 a.m. local time this morning during a routine cordon and search: locking down an area, going door to door. While American and Iraqi troops were doing this, the insurgents opened fire. They killed four of the Iraqi soldiers, and only three of the insurgents were killed.

In the meantime, these 16 American soldiers were wounded. Now, we don't know whether any of them were critically wounded or whether they were all minor wounds. Nonetheless, two other Iraqi soldiers were wounded, as was an Iraqi child, according to the U.S. military.

Now, we also see north of the capital, in Diyala Province, al Qaeda hitting back at police recruits, using a female suicide bomber to infiltrate the ranks of these men joining the police service, detonating herself and killing 10 of the recruits around her.

Meanwhile, south of the capital, Baghdad, in the Shia-dominated town of Diwaniya, an ongoing operation now in about its fourth day known as Operation Black Eagle continues, with American and Iraqi security forces targeting the Shia militia of anti-American rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. According to Iraqi government officials, so far 14 people have been killed, 61 wounded. Some of them, or among them, some militia members, say the Iraqi government.

Meanwhile, there's been about 50-odd arrests -- Lou.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Michael Ware reporting from Baghdad.