A NORTHWICH man has been hailed a hero after defusing a bomb that could have killed dozens of innocent people.

But for Lee Dunn, a former solider, it was all in a day's work.

The 34-year-old from Rudheath had been working for Securiforce International for just six weeks when he and a colleague foiled the lethal terrorist attack in Iraq.

Lee and another member of Securiforce International's Convoy Protection Unit discovered a homemade explosive device in a culvert on a main road between Ramadi and Falluja, west of Baghdad.

Lee, a former Royal Engineer search expert, discovered a command wire running alongside the highway and traced it to a culvert where it was linked, via a detonation switch, to the nosecones of two 150mm artillery shells.

The foiled terrorist attack came on the same day that two US soldiers were killed by a similar roadside bomb detonated as their convoy drove near Falluja, and shortly after an apparent car blast in Samarra, north of the capital.

His mum Val Dunn said she was not surprised by her son's act of bravery. She said: 'He is very modest but he loves his job. He was in the Royal Engineers for 12 years and has travelled all over to places such as the Falkland Islands, Afghanistan and Poland.'

His dad Terry added: 'He is not fazed by anything - he takes things as they come.'

Samarra and Falluja are both in the so-called Sunni Triangle, an area of frequent attacks on coalition forces. The death toll for US military personnel has reached 509 since the start of the war in March 2003.

Securiforce have been carrying out hundreds of similar culvert checks for homemade explosive devices during its time in Iraq and has been highly praised by US and Coalition forces for its professional and courageous work in one of the world's most hostile environments.

A spokesman for Securiforce International praised Lee's work. He said: 'This is another example of the deplorable situation facing coalition forces and private organisations carrying out work in Iraq and I have no doubt that the foiled terrorist attack will have saved the lives of dozens of innocent victims.'