- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,184
- Points
- 103
Soldiers help to capture 'most wanted' suspect
TWO soldiers from Burton were involved in a dramatic desert showdown that helped to capture one of the Taliban's top bomb-makers in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Ashley Coxon, 25, and Lance Corporal Matt Ryder, 23, both from Burton, were among four soldiers who raced to provide back-up for Private Lee Stephens, 30, who had leaped from his Warrior armoured vehicle to tackle a suspected suicide bomber.
The suspected bomber turned out to be a long-wanted insurgent, a bomb-making expert and the highest ranking Taliban captured by regular British forces.
The suspect cannot be named for security reasons.
After the man was tackled, four Afghans arrived carrying weapons and, as they tried to get the man back, the situation developed into a Wild West-style stand-off between the insurgents and soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment.
Lieutenant Colonel Giles Woodhouse, Commanding Officer with the regiment, said: "We know he was highly wanted and was active within the area.
"He was a known bomb-maker and instructed others in the making of IEDs.
"He was the highest level of insurgent that has been detained by soldiers from Task Force Helmand to date and for that we are extremely proud."
TWO soldiers from Burton were involved in a dramatic desert showdown that helped to capture one of the Taliban's top bomb-makers in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Ashley Coxon, 25, and Lance Corporal Matt Ryder, 23, both from Burton, were among four soldiers who raced to provide back-up for Private Lee Stephens, 30, who had leaped from his Warrior armoured vehicle to tackle a suspected suicide bomber.
The suspected bomber turned out to be a long-wanted insurgent, a bomb-making expert and the highest ranking Taliban captured by regular British forces.
The suspect cannot be named for security reasons.
After the man was tackled, four Afghans arrived carrying weapons and, as they tried to get the man back, the situation developed into a Wild West-style stand-off between the insurgents and soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment.
Lieutenant Colonel Giles Woodhouse, Commanding Officer with the regiment, said: "We know he was highly wanted and was active within the area.
"He was a known bomb-maker and instructed others in the making of IEDs.
"He was the highest level of insurgent that has been detained by soldiers from Task Force Helmand to date and for that we are extremely proud."
