[Koh]

Take it as the civilians climbed on your tank, pulled the crewmembers out from the open hatches and beat them to death with the stones. Just because the icon for a destroyed unit always shows a vehicle on fire, it doesn't mean that the vehicle blows up and catches on fire every time it's destroyed. It's just another abstraction. The MBT is just as knocked out in game terms, regardless of what kills the crew.

So yeah it is realistic that the tank, which you parked in the middle of the street with hatches open with a crew instructed not to fire at the enemy, to get knocked out in this fashion.