ABC News pair injured in Iraq
Woodruff, Vogt in stable condition
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ABC "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt were in stable condition Sunday after being seriously injured when their convoy was attacked outside Baghdad.
Both were struck in the head by shrapnel and underwent hours of surgery Sunday morning at a U.S. military field hospital. They were then moved to U.S. medical facilities in Landstuhl, Germany.
Both were wearing body armor, helmets and eye protection.
Woodruff and Vogt were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling with a convoy that consisted of U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces near Taji, Iraq, northwest of the capital.
The two had been riding in an up-armored Humvee, but decided to switch to a lightly armored Iraqi mechanized vehicle that was leading the convoy.
The lead vehicle was hit by an IED -- an improvised explosive device -- and then attacked by small arms fire.
At the time of the attack, Woodruff and his cameraman were atop the vehicle riding in an open hatch.
"They were in the lead vehicle and they were up in the hatch, so they were exposed," ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz said. "They did have all their body armor on. They had helmets on. They had eye protection."
The two were medevac'd to an American air base in Balad, north of Baghdad, where they underwent surgery for wounds to the head and, in the case of Woodruff, chest wounds as well. An Iraqi soldier also was hurt in the attack.
Woodruff arrived in Iraq on Friday after spending two days in Jerusalem covering the Palestinian elections. He was working on a report that was to air Sunday night.
Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas were appointed as permanent replacements for the late Peter Jennings in November. The dual-anchor format is intended to allow at least one of the duo to report from the field as events warrant, and both Woodruff and Vargas had visited Iraq in recent months.
Woodruff, 44, is married and a father of four. He has worked in Iraq off and on since he was embedded with a Marine division during the initial invasion of Iraq.
Vogt, 46, is married and a father of three. He has been an ABC cameraman for 15 years.
Twenty-two journalists were killed in Iraq in 2005, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, making it the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work.
