No doubts makers of the
Bullet proof BMW would make new customers given the latest report from the CNN
about one Ako Abdulrahman, a 32year old Kurdish
Peshmerga fighter who with his bulletproof BMW, drove about 70 persons to safety from ISIS.
The report said Ako realised he
needed protection when he came under attack
from ISIS militants advancing around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and so after
shopping around, decided to invest the sum of $10,000 in an armored car, an old
early 1990s bulletproof BMW at a car auction but he had no clue that the
vehicle would end up saving not only his life but the lives of dozens of other
people.
According to him "My
friends were very happy when I bought the armored car," he tells CNN.
"We started driving in it to the front line near Kirkuk, not worried about
ISIS drive-by shootings or roadside bombs."
It would be recalled
that on October 21, dozens of ISIS militants carried out a coordinated series
of attacks on the oil-rich city, targeting security forces and civilians in
several neighborhoods; leaving 64 dead and 86 ISIS militants killed.
More than 100 civilians
and security personnel were wounded; many of them were left stranded because of
ISIS militants' indiscriminate firing, while others were trapped by the terror
group's snipers shooting from rooftops.
Ako told reporters that he knew he
had to act saying "I told myself, this is the right time to help people,
this is the right moment to do it. I am a fighter and I have a bulletproof car,
shame on me if I can't help" and went into action by driving the armored
BMW through the city, back and forth to collect the injured, as ISIS gunmen sprayed
the vehicle with bullets. "I kept telling myself, my people are in danger,
they need me, my city is in danger, and I have to protect it." He added.
Continuing, Ako said he used his car
to transport more than 70 of the wounded to safety and also ferried the bodies
of the dead away from the attack. "When I arrived at the scene, I saw many
people on the ground, civilians and security forces and no one could dare to
come close because of ISIS snipers and random shooting. In my car, I carried
Sunni, Shiite, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians. I felt like I am truly Iraq and
this is who everyone should be," he added proudly.
"My car received more than 50 bullets;
there are marks all over it. ISIS kept shooting, hoping to penetrate my car to
kill me and kill the wounded people inside it" Said Ako.
For all of his troubles
and brave acts, Dr.
Najmaldin Karim, the Governor of Kirkuk has appreciated the Peshmerga
fighter in a meeting at the governor's office with a reward of 500,000 Iraqi
dinars which is about $385,000 and Abdulrahman mentioned that he did not realize
the governor had put such an amount of money into an envelope when he left the
governor’s office after the presentation of a certificate of thanks for his
daring rescue.
"I was happy with the
certificate of appreciation from the governor, but I thought it's insulting to
give me money for something every Iraqi should do," he said.
Meanwhile, he said he turned down an
offer from the German auto manufacturer to trade his bullet-riddled car for a
brand new BMW, explaining that the firm wanted to display his old car at its
headquarters. But Ako says he would repair the original car so he can keep
using it even as he added "I am not a hero, I am only an ordinary Iraqi
who wants to defeat his country from criminals and killers."
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