NICOSIA, 14 April 2003 — A CNN news team came under fire running a checkpoint while fleeing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s stronghold of Tikrit yesterday, and came under fire a second time during a highway chase.
Gunmen opened fire on veteran CNN reporter Brent Sadler and his crew after they refused to stop at the checkpoint leaving the city north of Baghdad. An armed guard in the car returned fire in a dramatic exchange on live worldwide television, and one of the drivers in the convoy suffered a light head wound from flying glass.
“That’s gunfire. We’ve just come under attack! Under Fire! Under attack! We’re OK, we’re OK. We’re under fire. That confirms our worst fears. We’ve just run a checkpoint. We have come under automatic machine gun fire. They tried to stop us,” Sadler said as sounds of shooting were heard.
Sadler’s team was then fired on a second time from a vehicle chasing them on a highway. The back window of one of the vehicles was shot out. “One of our vehicles has taken some shots. That was a pretty ugly moment,” Sadler said after coming under pistol fire in the second attack.
