ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian border guards shot and killed a Kurdish border porter, known in Kurdish as Kolbars, in Salas-e Babajani County in western Iran's Kermanshah province on Wednesday, a rights group said.
Mohammad Sediq Avali was shot at close range without prior warning in the Sheikh Saleh border area early Wednesday, according to Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
The 28-year-old was married and the father of two young children, Hengaw said. He was from Anjirbus village in Salas-e Babajani County.
Chiefly hailing from Iran's Kurdish-majority western regions (Rojhelat), Kolbars carry untaxed goods - including coffee, fabric, tea and even auto parts - on foot across the mountainous border between Iran, Turkey, and the Kurdistan Region, earning minimal wages despite significant risks and deepening economic hardship driven by the rampant inflation and continued devaluation of the Iranian rial.
In a recent case, a 20-year-old Kurdish kolbar from Saqqez was seriously wounded after Iranian Border Regiment forces opened fire on him in the Hangeh Zhal border area of Baneh, according to Hengaw. The shooting occurred on September 14 .
Since the start of 2026, Iranian forces have fired on at least 21 Kolbars, 13 of whom died, while the remaining have sustained various injuries, according to a recent Hengaw report.
Kolbari trade through Iran’s Kurdish border areas has surged dramatically as the country’s conventional maritime and land routes face growing disruption due to the US embargo.
The head of customs in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province said Kolbars contributed to 140,713 tons of goods worth $208 million entering the country during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March to August), according to Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
In the same period last year, only 870 tons of goods worth around $3 million had entered the country through Kolbars, an increase of roughly 69 times in value and more than 160 times in volume, according to figures published by the state-run IRNA.
While Iran promotes the formal Kolbari systems, Iranian border guards and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) regularly target the border couriers operating in unofficial crossings.
