The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC Online

A 16-year-old boy scout in the Maldives who has been hailed a hero for saving the president's life has said that he acted "out of instinct".

Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim injured his hand while thwarting a man who tried to knife President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the north of the islands on Monday.

"It all happened so quickly I didn't have time to think about it," he said.

The attacker lunged at the president after he had got off a boat during a visit in the north of the archipelago.

"As we were queuing up to shake hands with the president, I became aware of a man who was jostling in the crowd behind me," the teenager told the Haveeru newspaper. "He asked me to get out of the way just as I was shaking hands with the president. He produced a large knife which he was concealing under a Maldives flag and lunged towards the president shouting 'Allah is great'.

"Fortunately I was able to fend him off with my left hand and his attempt to stab the president in the stomach was foiled."

The student said the incident happened so quickly that he did not have enough time to think about the risk he was taking.

His left hand was badly cut in the incident - for which he received hospital treatment in the capital, Male, before being discharged on Wednesday.