A British Marine saved the lives of 130 soldiers in Afghanistan when he used a rugby tackle to take down a homicide bomber before he was able to detonate a motorcycle bomb, The Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
The unidentified 40-year-old Marine sprung to tackle a Taliban fighter when he reached for a detonator button to blow 154 pounds of explosives strapped to a motorcycle that had been driven into a group of 130 Marines and Afghan soldiers, The Mail reported.
Explosives experts told The Mail that had the bomb gone off it would have destroyed everything within a 590-foot radius, most likely killing all 130 army personnel.
"I can't really tell you what was going through my head at the time," the Marine told The Mail. "My immediate assumption was that he was a spotter for the Taliban who were planning an ambush."
Major Rich Cantrill said the marine saved many lives.
"He acted with conspicuous gallantry in the situation and put himself at great peril to get the suicide bomber away from the motorbike," Cantrill told The Mail. "He ran over and more or less rugby tackled him to the ground. I got on the radio and I heard mention of hand fighting."
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