Iraqi army retrieves destroyed Abrams tank to 'hide evidence' of its use
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--A Peshmerga commander said on Wednesday that the Iraqi army has now removed an Abrams tank that was destroyed by Peshmerga forces on October 20, 2017 at the town of Pirde when Iraqi forces and the Shiite militia advanced out of Kirkuk towards the Kurdistan Region.
“By doing this, Iraq wants to hide the truth that they have used Abrams tank against the Peshmerga. But we still retain its pictures,” the commander said.
Kamal Kirkuki, a Peshmerga commander, told Rudaw that the Hashd al-Shaabi forces have removed the tank in order to hide it somewhere.
“We tried hard to bring it to the territory controlled by the Peshmerga, but couldn’t do it. Fortunately, we managed to take photos of it and the Peshmerga are retaining the pictures as evidence. That is why removing and taking it somewhere else doesn’t change the fact that this tank was used against the Peshmerga,” Kirkuki said.
On Friday, October 20, 2017, the Hashd al-Shaabi attacked the town of Prde on several fronts and tried to capture it. But Peshmerga forces confronted them and defeated seven consecutive attacks. In this attack, the Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi army used America’s Abrams tanks against the Peshmerga who destroyed one of them.
In the fight, nearly 20 Hashd al-Shaabi’s tanks and military vehicles were destroyed, and nearly 150 from their fighters were killed and injured. Seven Peshmerga fighters were also killed and a number injured in the attack.
Video footage filmed by a Pehmerga soldier circulating on social media shows the destroyed American M1 Abrams tank.