Eye to eye with suicide bomber

Not many people get to see up close what Private Joshua Roewen has and survive - a suicide bomber.

On Wednesday night the 21-year-old Burnham-based soldier, who is peacekeeping in the Sinai peninsula, was on a routine drive at Al-Gura, 25km west of Gaza, when a suicide bomber threw himself at his vehicle.

"He had to slow down and move to the side of the road as he negotiated some sand rifts on the road," said Lieutenant Colonel John Coleman, Private Roewen's commanding officer.

"As the vehicle got close, this guy moved towards them and detonated himself, spreading himself over a fair bit of the Sinai. It was very messy."

Rattled but uninjured, Private Roewen kept his vehicle moving despite two punctured tyres and a damaged windscreen.

"He radioed in and drove to a safe area, parked, got out with his weapon and provided security until we got to him," Lieutenant Colonel Coleman said. "He did everything well."

A Fijian Battalion arrived within 15 minutes, and the private and his passengers - an Egyptian customs officer, immigration officer and a Norwegian liaison officer - escaped unscathed.

"They were very lucky. It could have been a lot worse," Lieutenant Colonel Coleman, whose unit is part of a 2000-strong Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), said.

"It was a definite target against the MFO, and that in itself is a bit of a jump ... It's new and we're looking into security arrangements."

Minutes later police who had rushed to the scene found themselves attacked by another suicide bomber, who rode a bicycle up alongside an Egyptian police car and detonated his bomb. The blast was stronger but no one was injured.

The attacks have left an impression on members of the MFO.

"[Private Roewen's] shaken, as you would be," Lieutenant Colonel Coleman said.

It was three hours before Private Roewen got back to base at North Camp.

"We got the rest of the New Zealanders to look after him, help him to relax and get over it. And last night we started our critical incident management, talking through the incident, the threat level and what it meant, how we can mitigate it ... and we had a couple of beers."

Private Roewen, a driver, has been in the Army for three years and serves in the 3rd Land Force Group. He is halfway into a six-month tour, his first overseas deployment, and he plans to complete it.

"We'll obviously watch him the next couple of times he goes out on the road. But he's happy to continue driving and I'm happy to keep him driving, especially after the way he reacted," Lieutenant Colonel Coleman said.

"He accepts it as part of the mission. There's no anger, but we acknowledge there are people who don't like what we're doing, and don't like the fact that the Americans are a big part of this mission."

There are 26 New Zealand peacekeepers in the MFO helping to implement the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The New Zealand troops are made up of training advisers, drivers and staff officers.

At least 18 people were killed in a terrorist attack three days ago in the resort of Dahab, to the south of where yesterday's attack took place.