Former ABC anchor Bob Woodruff pays newsroom a visit

LOS ANGELES, June 14 (Reuters) Former ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff, who was severely injured in January while covering the war in Iraq, made a surprise visit to ABC's newsroom for his first trip back to his workplace since being hurt.

''It was the first time many here had seen him, and he was greeted by a spontaneous round of applause. You could literally see the emotion in each hug,'' ABC news executive producer Jon Banner wrote in his blog at www.abcnews.com.

Looking fit in a light blue shirt and blue jeans, Woodruff visited ABC's New York newsroom with his wife, Lee yesterday. He said that after being unconscious for about 36 hours, he woke up with his co-workers on his mind.

''I thought about you guys and I thought about everything that I wanted badly to come back to,'' he said, according to a report posted on the broadcaster's Web site.

In a video clip of the visit posted on the ABC Web site, Woodruff looked gaunt but otherwise healthy as he visited with his co-workers, walking through the office, chatting with colleagues.

Woodruff and ABC cameraman Doug Vogt were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in which they were traveling.

Both suffered wounds to the chest, neck, face and head.

Only weeks before his injury, Woodruff was named co-anchor of ABC's ''World News Tonight'' along with Elizabeth Vargas. Vargas recently left the broadcast to concentrate on her family, and veteran newsman Charles Gibson took over as anchor.

REUTERS DH RAI0708