After importing thousands of AK-47 rifles from many countries, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in the early 1980s to pursue a domestically produced copy of the AKM rifle to replace worn out rifles for Iraqi troops in the continuing war with Iran.

Capitializing on the favorable relationship with Yugoslavia, Iraqi technicians secured coperation with The Zastava Arms Factory in Kragujevac, near Belgrade. By the mid-1980s, Iraq purchased tooling and machinery to establish its own factory near Baghdad under license from Zastava with aid from Yugoslavian workers and technicians. The main factory opened east of Bi'r Musammad, Babil, Iraq. The result was the introduction of AK-type rifles of excellent quality in a country not previously known for superior domestically produced weapons. The Iraqi produced AKM copies of the Yugoslavian M70B1 and M70AB2 rifles became known as the 'Tabuk.'  READ MORE HERE