2008 Woodie Awards
Iraq roadside bomb injures ABC News anchor, cameraman
Nancy A. Youssef, Huda Ahmed and Tony Pugh ; Knight Ridder Newspapers
Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: News
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BAGHDAD, Iraq-A roadside bomb seriously wounded ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and ABC News cameraman Doug Vogt Sunday as they were riding with Iraqi troops near the town of Taji, 25 miles north of Baghdad.
Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads outside the hatch of a Russian-made Iraqi military personnel carrier, apparently filming, when the explosion rocked the vehicle. Both men received shrapnel wounds to the head. An Iraqi army officer who was helping them lost four fingers. The vehicle's driver was uninjured.
Bashar Mahmoud Ayoub, commander of the 9th Division of the Iraqi Army based in Taji, said Woodruff and Vogt had been in a Humvee but asked to move to the Iraqi vehicle, which was the lead vehicle in a joint U.S.-Iraqi convoy. Ayoub said roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are common in the area.
"We suffer on this road every time we pass it. It is filled with IEDs. They target my men daily," he said. "There are so many, you cannot imagine it."
Woodruff, who was named co-anchor of ABC's nightly news broadcast in December, is the best-known American journalist wounded or killed in Iraq since fighting began there in March 2003. Nearly 9 million Americans watch ABC's "World News Tonight" nightly.
IEDs are the primary killers of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Roadside bombs have killed 23 U.S. troops so far in January, according to Iraq Casualty Count. There are no official statistics for the number of Iraqi soldiers who have died in similar blasts.
ABC officials in New York said that both Woodruff, 44, and Vogt, 46, were wearing body armor and helmets, but had suffered shrapnel wounds to the head. Both men were taken by helicopter to a U.S. military hospital in Balad, Iraq. Following surgery, both were listed in serious but stable condition, said ABC News President David Westin.
"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," Westin said. "The military plans to evacuate them to their medical facilities in Landstuhl (Germany), probably overnight tonight."
Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads outside the hatch of a Russian-made Iraqi military personnel carrier, apparently filming, when the explosion rocked the vehicle. Both men received shrapnel wounds to the head. An Iraqi army officer who was helping them lost four fingers. The vehicle's driver was uninjured.
Bashar Mahmoud Ayoub, commander of the 9th Division of the Iraqi Army based in Taji, said Woodruff and Vogt had been in a Humvee but asked to move to the Iraqi vehicle, which was the lead vehicle in a joint U.S.-Iraqi convoy. Ayoub said roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are common in the area.
"We suffer on this road every time we pass it. It is filled with IEDs. They target my men daily," he said. "There are so many, you cannot imagine it."
Woodruff, who was named co-anchor of ABC's nightly news broadcast in December, is the best-known American journalist wounded or killed in Iraq since fighting began there in March 2003. Nearly 9 million Americans watch ABC's "World News Tonight" nightly.
IEDs are the primary killers of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Roadside bombs have killed 23 U.S. troops so far in January, according to Iraq Casualty Count. There are no official statistics for the number of Iraqi soldiers who have died in similar blasts.
ABC officials in New York said that both Woodruff, 44, and Vogt, 46, were wearing body armor and helmets, but had suffered shrapnel wounds to the head. Both men were taken by helicopter to a U.S. military hospital in Balad, Iraq. Following surgery, both were listed in serious but stable condition, said ABC News President David Westin.
"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," Westin said. "The military plans to evacuate them to their medical facilities in Landstuhl (Germany), probably overnight tonight."