Scot in narrow escape from Taliban bomb

Published on Saturday 24 January 2009 18:46

A ROYAL Marine told yesterday how he had a lucky escape after a Taliban bomb exploded close to him while he was on patrol in Afghanistan.

Marc Holland-Leader, 18, was in Sangin, in the south of the war-ravaged country, when the improvised explosive device (IED) detonated about 20m from him. The marine, from Ballater, Aberdeenshire, said:

"It was just a routine patrol. The blast knocked me off my feet."

But Holland-Leader, who is part of 45 Commando, based in Arbroath, escaped uninjured following the attack in December. A fellow marine was hurt in the explosion, but has since recovered.

Holland-Leader, who has been based at a forward operations base in Helmand Province since October, also talked of the difficulties of losing colleagues. Four Royal Marines were killed on one day in December in separate explosions in southern Afghanistan. Soon after this, another marine that Holland-Leader had worked with died. "There were four lads killed on one day, and I knew three of them," he said.

"As much as you want to be out there and doing the job, it made you feel a bit cautious."

But, despite the danger, he believes the 45 Commando is making a difference. "I think we have had quite a positive influence. We have managed to push out into areas we haven't been to." Some local Afghans were now "more willing to talk to us", he said.

Meanwhile, former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown yesterday accused ministers of "wasting the lives" of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. He said that the international community had failed to put together a plan that could deliver peace and stability in the country, denying troops the ability to take advantage of their military victories over the Taliban.