Published: August 30, 2009 12:49 am      

McCormick wounded in Afghanistan

CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick was being treated Saturday at Bagram Air Base after being seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan that also killed a U.S. service member.

McCormick's stepmother is Ducky McCormick of Meridian. She is the daughter of the late George E. McCormick Jr, who was born and raised in Pachuta.

The U.S. troop death made August the deadliest month of the nearly eight-year war for American forces. The intensified fighting has raised the risk to journalists embedded with the military.

Cami McCormick was wounded Friday when the Army vehicle in which she was riding struck a bomb. CBS could not confirm the extent of her injuries, and NATO officials declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.

NATO spokesman Capt. Jon Stock confirmed that a U.S. service member died in the blast, bringing to 45 the number of American military personnel killed in August.

The military has not given the exact location of the explosion or named the U.S. service member. CBS said it occurred in Logar province, bordering Kabul, and officials there confirmed that a blast had hit a military convoy on Friday.

McCormick was first treated at a field hospital, where she was in stable condition after surgery. She was later transported to the Bagram base, north of Kabul, for more treatment. McCormick, 47, is an award-winning New York-based correspondent who has worked for CBS since 1998.

President Barack Obama's decision to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to combat a resurgent Taliban has increased international media attention to the war, coinciding with a rise in troop casualties.

At the same time, Taliban militants have increased their reliance on roadside bombs — known as improvised explosive devices.

They are now the cause of the majority of Western troop deaths in Afghanistan.

Two Associated Press journalists, photographer Emilio Morenatti and videographer Andi Jatmiko, were wounded along with two U.S. soldiers by a bomb in Afghanistan on Aug. 12.