BASHIQA, Iraq — When the offensive began on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (IS), peshmerga infantryman Nechevan Goran grabbed his AK-47 and headed to a mountain base overlooking Bashiqa, then also held by IS. The AK-47, also known as a Kalashnikov, is not Goran's weapon of choice for taking on IS. “I have an M4 at home. It’s much better,” he told Al-Monitor en route to the front in the back of a pickup truck. “It has no recoil and can be freely fired.”

Across the front lines north of Mosul, peshmergas from Iraqi Kurdistan are using foreign, high-powered weapons that they bought themselves from private dealers. Such weapons had been left behind by the Iraqi army when they lost territory to IS in 2014.

Peshmergas who do not use AK-47s typically rely on German- or US-made guns, such as the M16 assault rifle. Kemal, an infantryman who declined to give his last name, uses an M16. “It’s very good,” he said, at a checkpoint on the road to Bashiqa. “It has a scope and can rival a sniper. It’s loved here.” 

Kemal and Goran both bought their weapons from private dealers. “I bought it myself for $2,500,” Kemal said. “It’s from the Iraqi army. They left them, then people picked them up and sold them.” Goran said his M4 carbine, also originally issued by the Iraqi army, cost him $2,400. He saved money he earned as a builder to buy it.