A Bulletproof BMW Saves The Lives Of Its Owner And Others

Ako Abdulrehman, a Kurdish man living in the war-torn area of Kirkuk in the Kurdistan Region, managed to get his hands on an E34 5-Series BMW, but not the normal one, the Protection model that features bulletproof windows and bodywork which is a typicalsought-after mode of transport in the region where bullets rain more than rainfall itself. 

But instead of using it to get the hell out of Dodge, Ako put it to even better use after he was asked by Abdullah Bor, a Peshmerga Commander to help out on the Kirkuk frontline. Together with a friend, he used his bulletproof BMW to transport wounded fighters and civilians to hospital, driving through some seriously dangerous areas. 

The pair managed to get over 70 people to the hospital with the BMW racking up around 60 hits from gunfire before it was eventually too damaged to be used anymore. Many bullets struck the front and the windscreen.

“The ISIS bullets were coming in my direction. I saw death with my own eyes. Yet, I did not stop what I was doing. I could not leave the wounded in limbo. The only thing I cared about was getting the wounded into my car and driving them to the hospital,” said Ako. 

A Baghdad dealership, BMW Cihan, contacted him with an offer to fix the car he had bought at $9,000 four months before the attack. It's also been reported that BMW head office also contacted him with an offer to exchange the car for a new one so they could display it at their corporate campus, but Ako refused. Instead the bullet-ridden BMW will go to Sulaymaniyah, a local Kurdish museum.

What a brave Car!!