A young soldier has talked about his part in holding off 400 Taliban fighters during a nine-day seige in Afghanistan.

The Seige of Roshan Tower is being compared to Rorke’s Drift – made famous by the film Zulu – 130 years ago.

Callan Thompson, 19, a former pupil of St Anselm’s Roman Catholic School, Canterbury, is in the 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

Video: See Callan talk of his part in the Afghan siege on the Kentish Gazette website

Back home in Hersden he talked about the seige and about his time in Afghanistan.

“We would be having a brew and our interpreter would say 'they just said they had one of you in their sights for a clear shot’,” he said.

Only two soldiers were injured during the seige.

“The spirit over those nine days was unbelievable and I feel such a strong bond with some of them now,” said Callan.

“A couple of times I saw bullets pinging just inches from my colleagues’ feet and I thought, 'my god – I am so close to being killed.’”

•For full interview, see this week’s Kentish Gazette