Three More American Soldiers Killed Last Night
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Three more American soldiers killed last night in a raid in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit. This is happening even as another former official in Saddam Hussein's government was preparing to turn himself in to coalition troops. CNN's Nic Robertson live in Baghdad to bring us up to date. Hello, Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, that was the former Iraqi defense minister, General Sultan Hashim Ahmed. He negotiated his surrender with coalition forces over a number of weeks. An Iraqi humans rights worker was involved in that negotiation. He said that what General Sultan Hashim Ahmed wanted to achieve was to be taken off that list of 55 most wanted Iraqi officials, the famous deck of cards, if you will. He was number 27 on that list, the 8 of hearts. He wanted that to happen because he didn't want to spend as long in jail as other Iraqi officials. What he also wanted to achieve was to be treated with dignity and respect, and make sure that his medical condition, that is, he is a diabetic, that that would be taken care of by coalition troops. Now the coalition says -- is not saying whether or not he was struck off the list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, but General Sultan Hashim Ahmed's family say that when he was taken into custody, that a general in charge of the 101st Airborne, General Katreas (ph), saluted the former Iraqi defense minister, shook hands with him and his family, before General Ahmed was taken off into coalition custody. Also today, 55 Iraqis have been taken into detention by the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit. That comes just hours after three soldiers were killed and two injured in a number of overnight raids that were underway in the town of Tikrit. Three different operations simultaneously underway in Tikrit. Those soldiers came under fire from Iraqi attackers. Three killed and two wounded. Late today, news of another attack on coalition forces just south of Baghdad, yet to be confirmed by the coalition, but these pictures show the aftermath of that attack. A number of damaged vehicles. And according to eye witnesses, apparently grenades or explosive devices thrown down on this convoy just south of Baghdad as it was going under a bridge - Miles?</s>O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com