Eleven Iranians kidnapped by Syrian rebels have arrived in Turkey after being allowed to go free close to the Turkish border, Turkey's state news agency Anatolian reported Tuesday.
The eleven were kidnapped inside Syria earlier this month by rebels from the Free Syrian Army and freed following intervention by Turkey's Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), dpa reported.
The group were transported by IHH vehicles into Turkey where ten were found to be carrying Iranian passports and the eleventh to have no passport, Anatolian reported.
The Free Syrian Army - a group of deserters who have joined the Syrian opposition - said the 11 Iranian nationals were handed over to the Turkish authorities, according to activists based at the Syrian-Turkish border.
The activists said the Free Syrian Army had released the detainees in return for an Iranian promise to help urge Damascus to "release all women and children detained" in Syrian jails since the uprising erupted in Syria in March last year.
On February 1, unidentified gunmen kidnapped the 11 Iranian pilgrims in Syria, days after an armed group kidnapped other Iranian pilgrims on a bus heading to Damascus. Gunmen also seized seven Iranians in the restive city of Homs in January.
According to the Syrian authorities, a total of 22 Iranians had been seized since the uprising erupted.
Iranian pilgrims frequently visit Shiite Muslim shrines in Syria.
The Syrian opposition has accused Iran of supporting Damascus' crackdown on the popular uprising, which has escalated into an armed conflict.
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi dismissed reports that the kidnapped Iranians had any affiliation with the Iranian revolutionary guards accused of aiding the Syrian regime.
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