An unarmed soldier from Solihull has been hailed a hero after leaping from his vehicle to tackle a suspected suicide bomber.
The man turned out to be a long-wanted insurgent, a bomb-making expert and the highest ranking Taliban captured by regular British forces.
Private Lee Stephens grabbed him from the motorcycle after a chase across the desert.
But after four Afghans arrived carrying an assortment of weapons, the situation developed into a Wild West-style Mexican stand-off.
Soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, based at Durai Junction on highway one outside Gereshk, had pushed into an insurgent hotspot two weeks ago looking to disrupt the enemy.
The soldiers realised they had had a lucky escape when the fourth man in a foot patrol spotted an IED 30cm from his foot. They secured the area, but when a fire team moved off across open ground they saw a motorcyclist.
Lieutenant Martyn Fulford, 24, 4 platoon commander,from Churchdown in Gloucester, said: "It tied in to our intelligence reports that there were a number of suicide bombers preparing to attack us."
When the motorcyclist came within 30 metres, a barrage of insurgent gunfire opened up from behind him pinning them down, allowing the bike to speed off.
Lt Fulford was commanding one of two Warrior armoured vehicles 2km away, which both set off to intercept the bike. He said: "The driver put his foot down and it was a race towards highway one.
If he reached the tarmac he would have been able to outpace us and escape. We just pipped him. I had my rifle out of the turret screaming at him. Pte Stephens ripped his headset off and leapt down."
Gunner Pte Stephens, 30, from Solihull, did not have time to get his weapon from the back of the vehicle. He said: "I jumped out off the wagon and I grabbed the geezer. It was mark one left, mark two right fists. That was it. No weapons, just my hands."
He said he "goosenecked" him, grabbing him around the neck and dragging him towards his vehicle.
Asked what he was thinking at the time, he said: "My muckers were getting shot at on the ground and I thought I'm not having that."
It was only after searching him that Pte Stephens could be sure he wasn't wearing an explosive vest.
It was then that four men pulled up in two white Toyota Corollas, refused to show identification and aggressively tried to take hold of the prisoner.
Sergeant Jonathan Werrett, aged 31, and Cpl Robert Hirst, aged 28, both from Walsall, and LCpl Ashley Coxon, aged 25, and LCpl Matt Ryder, aged 23, both from Burton-on-Trent, ran across the desert to provide back-up.