ABC “World News Tonight” co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured Sunday when the Iraqi Army vehicle they were traveling in was attacked with an explosive device.
Both journalists suffered head injuries from shrapnel, and Woodruff also has broken bones. They were in stable condition after surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq, and were being evacuated to medical facilities in Germany, ABC News President David Westin said Sunday night.
“We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical,” Westin said.
Woodruff and Doug Vogt, an award-winning cameraman, were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling in a convoy with U.S. and Iraqi troops near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad.
They were wearing body armor and helmets but were standing up in the hatch of an armored personnel carrier when the bomb exploded, exposing them to shrapnel. An Iraqi solder was also hurt in the explosion.
According to a U.S. military official, the attack came as they rode in the Soviet made MTLB armored personnel carrier, a vehicle weighing more than 12 tons that can carry about a dozen soldiers. It is described as “lightly armored” on the Web site of the Federation of American Scientists, which catalogs the specifications of military equipment.
ABC said the men were in the Iraqi vehicle – considered less secure than U.S. military equipment – to get the perspective of the Iraqi military. They were aware the Iraqi forces are the frequent targets of insurgent attacks, the network said.
Lara Logan, a CBS News correspondent who has covered Iraq, said the Taji area is considered particularly dangerous because it was the site of one of Saddam Hussein’s munitions dumps. Many of the explosives are believed to have gotten into the hands of insurgents, she said.
“I admire Bob for going with the Iraqis,” said Logan, who was blown 12 feet in the air by an explosion while with the U.S. military in Afghanistan in 2003. “It’s important to hear their story and to experience it from their point of view. He did the right thing.”
Elsewhere in Iraq, car bombs exploded in quick succession Sunday near four Christian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy, killing three people and raising new concerns about sectarian tensions. At least 17 other people were killed in other violence around the country.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred within a half hour near two churches in Baghdad and two in Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north. The fifth bomb exploded about 50 yards from the Vatican mission in the capital.
Suspicion fell on Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq – led by Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – that have been responsible for massive car bombings and suicide attacks against Iraqi Shiite civilians.
“This was a reaction from the al-Zarqawi people against Christians who they believe support the U.S. military in Iraq,” senior Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Adeeb said. “Such acts are rejected by Shiites and Sunnis alike who have been living together with our Christian brothers in Iraq throughout history.”
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