Two kolbars have been hospitalized after being shot on the Iran-Iraq border in the latest in a string of attacks this summer.
Human rights organization Hengaw reports that on the morning of Friday, August 13, officers with Sardasht Border Regiment in Kurdistan opened fire on a group of kolbars carrying goods in the Bitoush area.
One of the victims was identified as Soran Kani Rashi, who was reportedly shot in the chest and rushed to Qalat Dizah Medical Center in Iraqi Kurdistan for treatment. Another kolbar, Jalil Zeini, was seriously injured afterfalling from a height while running away from the gunfire. He was taken to Sardasht Medical Center.
The government of the Islamic Republic refers to kolbars as “smugglers”. The Kurdish border couriers are regularly shot at by security forces. The attack on Friday follows a spate of reported incidents in July that saw at least four kolbars killed in a fortnight.
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