ABC anchorman stable after Iraq bombing

An ABC News anchorman and camera operator are in serious but stable condition after suffering head injuries when their Iraqi …

An ABC News anchorman and camera operator are in serious but stable condition after suffering head injuries when their Iraqi military vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were travelling with an Iraqi Army unit near Taji, outside Baghdad, ABC News said. The vehicle came under small-arms fire after the blast, the network reported.

Both men suffered head and shrapnel injuries even though they were wearing body armour, helmets and protective glasses, ABC News said. Mr Vogt also had a broken shoulder.

Mr Woodruff and Mr Vogt were injured by an improvised explosive device that insurgents often plant on roads to attack US vehicles; a network correspondent said the two were standing up in their vehicle's open hatch at the time of the blast.

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In December ABC named Mr Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas as co-anchors to replace the late Peter Jennings on its World News Tonightevening newscast. They started on January 3rd.

Some 60 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At least 41 of those were Iraqi, the CPJ said in a recent report. Others say the toll is higher.