| Rudaw.net

Photo Gallery

Peshmerga EOD team parlays counter-ISIS lessons to safeguard Kurdistan

17-07-2018

31 Photos

Mohammed Shwani

A specialized Peshmerga unit has taken the lessons learned from the ISIS conflict to heart. They continue to train although they say they lack the most modern equipment and stand ready to respond when called upon.

"We were damaged severely by booby traps and landmines. This kind of warfare and their techniques were strange to us, so the Peshmerga did not have much information in the very beginning," Peshmerga Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Hussein Kakai told Rudaw English.

The Ministry of Peshmerga's Supporting Forces Command 1 have been "invaluable" during the ISIS conflict. The missions of the Erbil-based explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team have spanned from the fronts of Shingal to Mosul to Kirkuk.

"In the beginning of the war, our tools to counter ISIS techniques were very basic, but what was really useful was that our teams had good knowledge on defusing bombs as many had already worked with the Iraqi army."

Kakai, who has been a member of the Peshmerga for 15 years but went through military college in Baghdad, estimates about 20 percent of the areas around the Kurdistan Region remain dangerous because of mines, unexploded ordinance, and booby-trapped structures.

When an improvised explosive device-laden building or area is deemed too dangerous for traditional forces to enter, Kakai decides whether his unit should be deployed.

After arriving in an US-made Badger anti-mine vehicle, the team uses available technologies, coalition training, and previous knowledge of ISIS tactics to decide whether to try to dismantle the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and mines, or whether to detonate them.

The general described the first six month of the fight against ISIS as "tough" when they "lost many cadres."

The Peshmerga receive training from US-led anti-ISIS coalition members, especially the British, but the Kurdish soldiers say they lack the equipment to safely detect and diffuse some devices, so they are asking for more specialized equipment to safely and properly clear Kurdistan of ISIS's deadly remnants.