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Iranwire – An Iranian Baluch fuel carrier was killed on March 7 after a chase with the border forces of the Islamic Republic in southeastern Zahedan.
Haalvsh news agency which covers news in the Baluch-dominated areas in Iran has identified the victim as Behzad Najafi.
Haalvhsh reported police forces chased Najafi’s vehicle which caught fire after being struck by gunfire. He died in the blaze.
Many young men in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, which is home to Iran’s mostly Sunni ethnic Baluch minority, resort to transporting fuel to Pakistan to make a meager living.
They are called fuel carriers, sookhtbar in Persian, although the government refers to them as “smugglers” and treats them no better than terrorists.
Dozens of fuel carriers are fatally shot or injured by Iranian security forces every year.
According to a 2022 report by Iranian state-affiliated media, at least 168 Baluch fuel carrier drivers have lost their lives on the Iranshahr-Sarbaz road alone.
