Injured correspondent arrives in Germany

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- A CBS News correspondent seriously wounded by a car bomb that killed two colleagues in Iraq briefly regained consciousness during a flight to Germany, where she will be treated at a US military hospital, the network said yesterday.

Kimberly Dozier was being treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for injuries to her head and legs and was in critical but stable condition, the CBS Evening News reported.

CBS said Dozier, a 39-year-old American, underwent two operations in Baghdad before being transferred to Landstuhl, the US military's largest medical facility abroad. Vice President Sandy Genelius said that Dozier was expected to stay at the Landstuhl facilityfor several days.

``We are encouraged by reports from her doctors," Genelius said. ``Generally, it's positive in that she's certainly stable and the doctors are feeling more positive than they have been."

Colonel W. Bryan Gamble said Dozier was responsive during the flight, opening her eyes and moving her toes as she was transferred, but that it was too soon to speculate on her recovery.

``It's really hard right now to ascertain how much of a recovery period she will need and what the extent of her rehabilitation will be, it's really too early into the process of the trauma to know that right now," Gamble said.

``She was critically wounded from the . . . blast, but right now she is doing as well as can be expected," he said, adding that Dozier was expected to undergo several other routine operations.

Medical officials are awaiting the arrival of her family, expected today, to decide when she would be transferred to the United States, Gamble said.

Dozier, along with cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan were traveling in a US military convoy working on a story about Memorial Day when a car bomb exploded. Douglas and Brolan, both British citizens, were killed. A US soldier and an Iraqi translator also died in the blast.

In addition to her time in Iraq, Dozier also had worked as the chief correspondent for WCBS-TV New York's Middle East bureau in Jerusalem, and previously as London bureau chief and chief European correspondent for CBS Radio News.

Dozier graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College, majoring in human rights and Spanish, according to her biography on the CBS News website. She later earned a master's degree in foreign affairs, specializing in the Middle East, from the University of Virginia.

Dozens of journalists have been injured, killed, or kidnapped in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Before Monday's attack, the Committee to Protect Journalists had put the number of journalists killed in Iraq at 69. Of those, nearly three-quarters were Iraqis, the New York-based group said.