ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier received an award in the United States as the best explosives detection dog team trainer for the year 2024, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said in an announcement on Friday. 

 

The Best Explosives Detection Dog Team award was given by Marshal center, a renowned international security and defense studies institute in the US.

 

“On October 8, in the presence of Mrs. Trifa Azeez, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government representation office in the US, and a number of high ranking American military officials and representatives of international organizations, the Best Explosives Detection Dog Team trainer for the year 2024 went to Peshmerga soldier Aram Rashad in a prestigious ceremony,” read a statement form the Peshmerga ministry on Friday.

 

The ministry detailed the award was given to Rashad “on the basis of competence and dedication to his job.”  

 

The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies is one of six US Department of Defense Regional Centers and the only bilateral Center.  It is also the only regional center for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Rashad is a soldier at the K9 Unit, The Engineering Battalion of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, according to the statement. 

 

"Rashad has been working with his dog, named Luke Boomer for more than six years in operations for bomb and explosive ordnance detections," the ministry detailed. 

 

“He has taken part in many operations for detecting explosive remnants,” it said. 

 

The US closely works with Iraqi forces, including the Peshmerga forces, providing them with professional and high-standard military trainings to avoid the resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

 

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have received numerous modern warfare tactics trainings provided by the US-led coalition members, including the US and several European countries, primarily aiming to improve their military capabilities. 

 

ISIS took control of swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014, announcing their so-called caliphate with the city of Mosul as its capital, until Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with assistance from the US-led coalition forces regained control of the taken territories in 2017, announcing the group as territorially defeated.
 
However, the group still conducts occasional hit-and-run attacks and ambushes in several Iraqi territories, specifically areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.