Kidnapped pilgrims set free
2005-11-30 16:03
Baghdad - Four kidnapped Iranian pilgrims were released on Wednesday, two days after they were seized by gunmen north of the Iraqi capital, a diplomat at their embassy said.
"The four have arrived at our consulate in Karbala" in southern Iraq, from where they will be returned home, the diplomat said.
The four men were seized, along with two Iranian women, as they travelled in a minibus near Balad, 75 kilometres north of the capital.
The two women were released unharmed on Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims have travelled to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 to visit Shiite holy shrines.
- AFP