Colchester: I survived suicide bomber

10:00am Friday 17th October 2008

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A SOLDIER has spoken of the moment when a suicide bomber blew himself up – killing three members of his patrol.

Signaller James McKernan, of Colchester-based 216 Parachute Signal Squadron, had his left leg shattered by shrapnel in the explosion, but managed to radio back to base what had happened.

The 24-year-old had only just left an Afghan police station on his first patrol through the town of Gereshk, where he was deployed in support of Czech and Danish troops.

“It’s a busy market town, and we were patrolling on one side of the road when the suicide bomber detonated himself on the other side,” Sig McKernan said.

“At the time I thought I had gone to the floor as a natural reaction, and then I saw the blood on my leg.

“My training kicked in and I knew that as patrol signaller I had to call in the contact report to get assistance for us.”

Two Danes and a Czech soldier were also killed in the incident, on March 17.