Two journalists working for CBS News were among four people killed when a car bomb hit a U.S. military patrol in Baghdad on Monday.
CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier was seriously wounded and six U.S. soldiers were also injured, CBS and the U.S. military said in separate statements.
An unnamed U.S. soldier and an Iraqi civilian working with the military were killed along with the network's London-based cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42.
Dozier, 39, an American, was in critical condition at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad, said Kelli Edwards, a CBS News spokeswoman. By early Tuesday, Dozier was undergoing her second surgery for injuries from the bombing, Edwards said.
On Monday, doctors had said they were cautiously optimistic about her prognosis.
The crew had been filming a report on a joint U.S. and Iraqi army patrol through the Iraqi capital in mid-morning. The three were reporting on patrol with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, when their convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device, CBS said.
Dozier has been reporting on the war in Iraq for nearly three years, CBS said.
In January, ABC’s Bob Woodruff suffered serious head injuries and broken bones while reporting on the war.
A dangerous assignment
More than 70 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion of 2003, making it by some measures the deadliest conflict for the profession since World War II.
The real number is believed to be higher and the list does not include the many translators, drivers and other assistants said by media watchdogs to have died since the conflict began.
Douglas had worked for CBS News in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia, as well as Iraq, since the early 1990s.
A towering figure with an easy going manner, he was a distinctive and well-liked presence in Baghdad's small corps of foreign journalists.
Brolan was a freelancer who had worked with CBS in Baghdad and Afghanistan over the past year, CBS said.
“This is a devastating loss for CBS News,” said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. “Kimberly, Paul and James were veterans of war coverage who proved their bravery and dedication every single day. They always volunteered for dangerous assignments and were invaluable in our attempt to report the news to the American public.”
Following is a chronology of those reported killed in 2006:
- Jan. 24, 2006: Mahmoud Za'al, who worked for Baghdad TV, is killed while filming an attack by U.S. forces in Ramadi.
- Feb. 22: Gunmen kill Atwar Bahjat, a correspondent for Al Arabiya television, her cameraman, Khaled Al Falahi, and her soundman, Adnan Khairallah, as they filmed in Samarra.
- March 7: Munsuf Abdallahal-Khaldi, a presenter with Baghdad TV, is shot dead as he was driving from Baghdad to interview poets in the northern city of Mosul.
- March 11: Gunmen kill Amjad Hameed, a senior editor for Iraqiya television, in central Baghdad. The military wing of the Mujahideen Council claims responsibility.
- March 13: Muhsin Khudhair, editor of news magazine Alef Ba, is gunned down in Baghdad.
- May 29: CBS Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan are killed in a bomb attack on a U.S military patrol in Baghdad and correspondent Kimberly Dozier is left in critical condition. The journalists were embedded with the U.S. military.