ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt, injured during a bomb attack in Iraq, are being evacuated to Germany.

Both suffered head injuries in the Sunday incident, with Woodruff also suffering some broken bones.

They underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq and were described afterward as being in stable condition.

"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," ABC News President David Westin said Sunday night.

Woodruff and Vogt were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and travelling with U.S. and Iraqi troops when an improvised explosive device detonated near Taji, which is about 20 kilometres north of Baghdad.

"They were with an Iraqi army unit at the time the attack occurred," U.S. military spokesman Lt.-Col. Barry Johnson said.

They were wearing body armor and helmets, the network said. However, they were standing in an open hatch when the device went off, hitting them with shrapnel.

The U.S. military said an investigation was underway.

Vogt was reportedly awake and lucid after undergoing surgery to remove a piece of shrapnel that had penetrated his skull. He will undergo more surgery in a day or two to remove more shrapnel from his shoulder.

"You always have a feeling that something could go wrong, but then you hope of course that it doesn't," Vogt's father, Henry Vogt, told CTV News. "And then the next thing you know … I got up this morning and I did get the news firsthand."

Of his son's risky occupation, Henry said: "He is doing what he likes to do and he's proud that people appreciate what he does."

Vogt, 46, has been a cameraman for 25 years and has won three Emmy awards. He has spent the last 20 years based in Europe and has covered global events for the CBC and BBC. He lives in Aix-en-Provence, France.

"He's the cameraman we all request when we go to the field because he's so good, a fantastic eye. He's won so many awards for ABC," said ABC News reporter Jim Sciutto, who is also covering the war for the network.

The U.S. military said an investigation was underway.

Woodruff, 44, was recently named co-anchor of ABC News' "World News Tonight" with Elizabeth Vargas following the death of Peter Jennings.

While teaching in China, he helped CBS News during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising and decided to become a journalist.

"When I realized there was a job that existed in this world where I could be in the middle of huge world events and actually get paid for it, it was an epiphany for me," the father of four told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Woodruff has also reported from Afghanistan, Belgrade and Kosovo.

Woodruff and Vogt are the latest journalists to be injured in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003. Dozens of journalists have been hurt, kidnapped or killed.

However, according to statistics compiled by the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 21 of 22 journalists killed in Iraq in 2005 were either Iraqis or Arabs.

About 250 foreigners have been kidnapped and at least 39 of them killed.

Jill Carroll, a U.S. journalist, was taken hostage on Jan. 7 and is still being held.

With a report from CTV's Joy Malbon