THE presenter of America’s ABC News and his cameraman were seriously injured in Iraq yesterday after the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb.

Bob Woodruff, one of the best-known television journalists in America, and Doug Vogt, his cameraman, were with US and Iraqi troops near Taji, about 12 miles (20km) north of Baghdad. Both suffered head injuries and were in a stable condition after surgery at a US military hospital.

Woodruff and Vogt, an award-winning cameraman, had been embedded with the 4th Infantry Division. They were wearing body armour and helmets when the device exploded, but they were hit by shrapnel. No one else was hurt in the explosion.

The network said that the men had been travelling in the Iraqi mechanised vehicle to get the perspective of the Iraqi military. They were aware the Iraqi forces are the frequent targets of insurgent attacks.

Woodruff, 44, became the co-presenter of ABC News’ World News Tonight with Elizabeth Vargas this month. In an unusual approach to evening news, one of the two co-anchors reports from the studio in New York while the other reports from the field, as Woodruff was doing in Iraq.

Woodruff, a father of four, grew up in Michigan and became a lawyer in New York. He took a leave of absence to teach in China, helped CBS News during the Tiananmen Square uprising and became hooked on journalism.

He has since covered the US Justice Department and reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Belgrade and Kosovo. “When I realised there was a job where I could be in the middle of huge world events and actually get paid for it, it was an epiphany for me,” Woodruff told the Associated Press in a recent interview.

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