BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman were seriously wounded Sunday in a roadside bomb attack near Taji, according to a statement from ABC News president David Westin.
Woodruff, 44, and 46-year-old cameraman Doug Vogt "are in serious condition and are being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq."
Both men were wearing body armor and helmets.
ABC reported that the two were in the hatch of a military vehicle taping at the time of the explosion, which was followed by small-arms fire.
ABC said the two have head injuries, and Woodruff was undergoing surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
The Balad military hospital is the most technologically advanced in Iraq.
The two were embedded with the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division and traveling through Taji -- about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baghdad -- in an Iraqi mechanized vehicle at the time of the attack.
Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas were named in December to replace the late Peter Jennings as "World News Tonight" anchors. They started earlier this month.
Woodruff, an attorney and former law professor, began in journalism with CBS News as a translator in Beijing, China, during the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. During the initial invasion of Iraq, he was embedded with Marines on the front lines.
Reporting from Iraq is a dangerous proposition. According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, 79 journalists and assistants have been killed in the war zone since the United States invaded in March 2003.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman were in stable condition Sunday after both were seriously wounded by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, ABC officials said.
"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical. The [U.S.] military plans to evacuate them to their medical facilities in Landstuhl [Germany], probably overnight tonight," a ABC statement said.
Woodruff, 44, and 46-year-old cameraman Doug Vogt were in an Iraqi military vehicle near Taji, about about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baghdad, at the time of the explosion, ABC said. (Watch the challenges of treating wounded at military hospital -- 3:29)
Both men, who were wearing body armor and helmets, sustained head injuries during the attack and Woodruff underwent hours of surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
The Balad military hospital is the most technologically advanced in Iraq and the two were taken there after first being taken to a nearby hospital.
"Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds, and Vogt was hit by shrapnel in the head and suffered a broken shoulder," according to an earlier statement on ABC's Web site.
the rest of the article is pretty much what the first post said.
01-29-2006 06:21 PM
