 The AK-63 was used by Iraqi forces again during the Gulf War in 1990–91, and later turned up in Kurdish and Shi'ite hands during the insurrections in Iraq throughout the 1990s.The AK-63 was also exported to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which used them to fight the Contras in the 1980s.Significant numbers of AK-63s were also sent to the FMLN in nearby El Salvador starting in late 1984 or 1985.