ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two mules belonging to the Kurdish border porters, or Kolbars, were killed and four others injured when Iranian border guards opened fire as their caravan passed by the Iranian border areas in the Hawraman region, southeast of Sulaimani province, porters told Rudaw.
“They fired more than 500 bullets, and we barely escaped death,” one of the surviving Kolbars, who preferred to keep his identity concealed, told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar on Tuesday.
"Due to their shooting, two of our mules were killed, four others were wounded, and we lost our entire load,” he added. The incident took place late Monday in the Daray Mar village in Hawraman.
Portering goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border is predominantly carried out by Kurds, with workers navigating the rugged mountainous terrain along the 200-kilometer border to transport goods.
Unemployment, rising living costs, and economic hardship in western Iran’s Kurdish regions (Rojhelat) are the main reasons people turn to this business.
They carry untaxed goods - including coffee, fabric, tea, appliances, and even auto parts - on foot to Iran for minimal wages.
The Kolbar who was shot holds a university degree.
“During my time working, more than 10 of my friends and colleagues have lost their lives" to Iranian border guards’ gunfire, he claimed.
Last month, a 25-year-old Kurdish kolbar was killed by Iranian border forces while working at a border point in Baneh, in Iran’s Kurdistan province. Another Kolbar was also killed by the border forces in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province in July.
According to the Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights - which documents human rights violations in Iran - Iranian border forces have killed 10 Kurdish Kolbars over the past eight months.
Iranian authorities have also limited the issuance of permits to border porters. While more than 10,000 permits were issued in June 2025, recent restrictions on the number of permit cards granted, along with border closures affecting Kolbar activity, have left thousands more without work.
According to Hengaw, more than a dozen kolbars have been targeted by direct gunfire from Iranian forces since the beginning of 2026, leaving at least seven dead and several others injured.
The rights group attributed the lower number of reported cases compared with previous years partly to reduced border activity during closures linked to the US-Iran war and subsequent regional escalations.
