Anything chew can do, I can chew better! Kurdish female officer tears into a snake and a rabbit with her teeth alongside male counterpart as part of graduation ceremony in Iraq
- Female members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party train and go to war alongside their male counterparts
- They took part in an officers’ graduation ceremony in Soran, an Iraqi-Kurdish town 60 miles northeast of Erbil
- ISIS were ‘terrified of the force because they thought being killed by a woman lost them a place in paradise’
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Female Peshmerga soldiers have been photographed tearing into snakes and rabbits with their teeth as part of a graduation ceremony to make them officers of the formidable Kurdish fighting force.
Pictured today, the female members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party took part in their turning out among other male recruits near the Iraqi-Kurdish town of Soran, 60 miles northeast of the Kurds’ capital, Erbil.
During the ceremony, the women showed their military might by rolling through sloppy mud, knocking down their male counterparts in combat and tearing into a live snake and rabbit with their teeth.
The Peshmerga, which is the armed forces of Iraqi-Kurdistan, first became a key player in the ground war against the Islamic State in August 2014 when the Sunni-extremist troops launched an unexpected attack on their region.
One of the female troops’ most notable triumphs was when they held off an ISIS assault on the city of Kobane during a bloody four-month long battle, and reclaimed the strategically crucial Mosul Dam soon after it fell to the militants.
The Kurdish Peshmerga is famous for its use of female soldiers, all of whom battle alongside their male counterparts on the frontline.
A female Peshmerga officer told the MailOnline in 2014, as the war on ISIS was raging, that women were particularly terrifying to the extremists because they believe men dispatched by women won’t go to Paradise.
An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga female officer bites a snake while demonstrating skills during a graduation ceremony in the Kurdish town of Soran, about 100 kilometres northeast of the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region Arbil, on February 12, 2020
A female officers rips through the body of a snake with her teeth while demonstrating skills which make her an officer during a graduation ceremony in the Kurdish town of Soran today
A female Peshmerga officer stands with her thumbs up as a mauled rabbit hangs from her teeth during a graduation ceremony for officers in the Kurdish town of Soran today
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take both sides of a snake and sink their teeth in during an officers’ graduation ceremony today in Soran, an Iraqi-Kurdish town 60 miles northeast of Erbil
Officers tear at the carcass of a rabbit during a graduation ceremony for Peshmerga officers today in the Kurdish town of Soran
The hide of a rabbit hangs between a female Peshmerga officer’s teeth in a skills display in the Iraqi-Kurdish town of Soran today
A female Peshmerga officer paints the face of her fellow officer during the graduation ceremony today in the Kurdish town of Soran
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga female officers stand to attention wearing camouflage face paint and kit in the valley near the Kurdish town of Soran in the Kurds’ autonomous region of Iraq today
A female member of the Kurdish Peshmerga delivers a high kick through a board during an officers’ graduation ceremony today in Soran, Iraqi-Kurdistan
Female Peshmerga officers roll through mud during their graduation ceremony at a military camp in Soran, Erbil Province, Iraq today
Female Peshmerga officers stand amid an ignited smoke bomb today during a graduation ceremony for officers at the Erbil Infantry military centre in Soran, 60 miles northeast of Erbil
Female Peshmerga officers train alongside their male counterparts, as seen in this image from the officers’ graduation ceremony today in Erbil Province, Iraqi-Kurdistan
Female fighters stand to attention during today’s graduation ceremony at the Erbil Infantry military centre, 60 miles northeast of the Iraqi-Kurdistan capital of Erbil
Female fighters crawl through mud during today’s graduation ceremony at the Erbil Infantry military centre, 60 miles northeast of the Iraqi-Kurdistan capital of Erbil
Female fighters stand to attention during their turning out ceremony today at a military centre in Soran, Iraqi-Kurdistan
Female officers crawl through mud as they display skills learned near the Kurdish town of Soran today