Lance Corporal Mike Woodman (left) and colleagues with 'Bluebird'

Lance Corporal Mike Woodman was shielded from the blast of a suicide bomber by the tank named Bluebird.

The 28-year-old and two other members of the Queen's Dragoon Guards were running a road block near the Black Watch base at Camp Dogwood.

He said: "We didn't have a chance to get scared."

The three soldiers serving in the QDG's - known as the Welsh Cavalry - were questioning three men in a white pick-up truck when the bomber rammed a red Volkswagen Passat packed with explosives into the back of Bluebird and detonated.

It was a very big bang and there was black smoke everywhere and bits of stuff flying all over the place through the air L/Cpl Mike Woodman

It is thought that the men in the pick-up were suspected followers of Jordanian terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and had been planning to video the suicide attack and broadcast it on the internet.

L/Cpl Woodman had named the Scimitar armed vehicle after his favourite football team.

Bluebird stood up well to the blast although the exhaust and rear storage area were damaged.

All that remained of the bomber's vehicle was its axle and engine box.

L/Cpl Woodman said: "It's something you think will never happen to you, but it did.

The Welsh Cavalry is operating with the Black Watch in Iraq

"All the boys did their job properly. It was a sudden and at the time we didn't have chance to get scared. You only think about what could have happened later.

"We walked away from it, that's the main thing. Before it happened we had stopped the pick-up and while we were talking to the people inside the guy in the other car just blew himself up.

"It was a very big bang and there was black smoke everywhere and bits of stuff flying all over the place through the air.

"I just hit the floor and then got away from the first car as quick as I could in case it exploded too.

"Me and the others ran about 100 metres away and made sure all the other lads were out of the way of it.

"The guys in the first car were going to video it and they legged it on foot so we chased after them but we couldn't catch them."

Temporary checkpoint

The suicide squad dumped their video camera but took the tape with them.

The attack happened on a road in the desert west of Camp Dogwood last Wednesday.

It is believed the suicide squad was heading north to attack a permanent British road block which is in place to check people leaving the city of Fallujah in the wake of the American assault there.

The bomb team was not in attack formation - suicide bomber first and video car second - and appear to have been surprised by the temporary checkpoint operated by the QDGs.

The bomber then decided to attack them instead.

The dangers of the job are not lost on Lance Corporal John Evans from Flint, north Wales, who is one of those who also performs the potential risky task of questioning car drivers at checkpoints.

'A good team'

He said: "You've always got to be aware that if it's a single person in the car the threat of a suicide bomb is very high.

"As I go into the vehicle there could be explosives sitting there behind the passenger seat waiting for the guy to detonate.

"But I've got a good team watching my back and they reassure men and help me to do the job."

The QDGs are part of the Black Watch battle group operating to the south-west of Baghdad.

Operating in the desert west of Camp Dogwood, they also try to gather intelligence and reassure locals.

'Nervous'

The vast area was a virtual blank on the map before they arrived.

Trooper Jamie Pickering, 23, from Cardiff, said: "We're trying to build up a picture of what this place is like.

"Any intelligence will be very useful to anyone else who comes here."

Trooper Gavin Griffiths, 21, from Rhyl said: "A lot of the time we're living off our wagons.

"We've been out four or five days in a row and then it's a rush to get a decent wash and then we're back out again."

Lance Corporal Oliver McDonald, 23, an engineer from Carmarthen, said: "You're nervous all the time out here and you find yourself looking out and listening for things coming in.

'Approach'

"You can sound all macho and say you're not worried but I think everyone is worried.

"Every time I phone my mum she's concerned. It's the people at home who suffer most."

A military spokesman said after Wednesday's attack: "This is why we're here - to stop these people.