Iranian soldier became national hero after risking life to save dog
Sunni soldier became a national hero in Shi'ite Iran after he lost his leg, trying to save a dog tangled in a minefield.
The history of 19-year-old Mohammed Bakhtar has spreaded throughout Iran: the media are making programs and writing articles, people share a history that occurred on a military base.
On the freezing afternoon of December 17, Bakhtar noticed the dog caught in barbed wire around a minefield near an ammunition depot. Hearing the dog's plaintive cries, Bakhtar rushed over to free the injured animal - and seconds later, a mine exploded, shattering his right leg.
"I was standing at my post that day ... I heard the poor dog moaning non-stop," Bakhtar told Al Jazeera. "I knew that it was a minefield, but I couldn't reach the poor dog. Finally, I finally put my right foot to the other side of the barbed fence to release the dog. As soon as he ran, [the mine exploded]."
Doctors in the northwestern city of Tabriz attempted for hours to reattach Bakhtar's leg, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
Although Tabriz has a history of ethnoreligious conflict dating back to the Ottoman Empire and, today, maintains a significant Shia majority, thousands of people from all walks of life, including local officials, queued up outside the hospital to pay tribute to the young Sunni soldier. Photos of Bakhtar inside the hospital, and later arriving to a hero's welcome in his hometown of Marivan, were shared widely on the Telegram messenger app throughout the country.
"I salute this young soldier as the symbol of honour and bravery, and wish the Middle East had many like him as a panacea for long-existing problems," one girl from Tehran tweeted.
Others have called for Bakhtar to receive insurance and a new job, while Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, who heads the Environmental Protection Organisation (EPO), called Bakhtar personally and publicly praised him as "a source of honour and pride for every Iranian".
Ebtekar has reportedly offered Bakhtar a job in the EPO, which he has responded to with enthusiasm, saying this would allow him to fulfil a "childhood dream" by working close to nature.
Source: Al Jazeera
