Jaw-Dropping Video Allegedly Shows Kurdish Forces Defusing IED Bombs Planted By ISIS [Video]

A video reportedly shows Kurdish forces, known as Peshmerga, defusing IED bombs placed by ISIS to slow advancing troops. The video has gone viral on Facebook, with many noting the guts the man diffusing the bombs must have.

In the video, you first see a man digging with a shovel along the dirt. He digs into an apparent IED and then casually sweeps the dirt from the top of the device. He has a pair of wire cutters he snips a few wires with, then he throws the bomb to the side. Next, he can be seen removing a longer rectangular shaped object from the ground. He continues on, looking down towards the ground, until he finds another IED and does the same.

If the video is real and the IEDs are active, the man in the video definitely has courage. Asharq Al-Awsat News notes that the Kurdish troops don’t have sophisticated equipment for bomb dismantling — and ISIS knows it. Therefore, ISIS troops frequently plant IEDs in neighborhoods, along streets and in areas that have been captured from the militant group. Peshmerga Maj. Gen. Mohamed Hussein says that 70 percent of casualties have come from these planted bombs.

“Seventy percent of the casualties of the war on ISIS have been caused by exploding bombs ISIS have planted. Peshmerga forces do not have modern equipment to detect and dismantle mines and the ones that we received from Europe are few and unsophisticated. Explosive devices pose a risk to the Peshmerga forces and civilians in all liberated areas and represent the greatest challenge in the war.”