Two Iranian pilgrims kidnapped in Syria by rebel forces there were freed Monday night and delivered to Turkish border police, IRNA reported.
According to IRNA, the spokesman of Iranian Embassy in Turkey said that the names of these two pilgrims are Shaqoli Qolavand, son of Ebdal and Ali Razani, son of Abbas.
The freed pilgrims were delivered to the Turkish intelligence officials at the border of that country and Syria.
Two other pilgrims, Shah-Morad Najafi and Mohammad Sarhang-Fallah, too, were freed from captivity last Friday and came back home.
The newly freed two pilgrims were initally delivered to the Turkish border police, and then to security police officials, following which on Tuesday they would be delivered to the Iranian officials. There are also great chances that they would then on Tuesday night they would most probably depart Istanbul for Tehran.
Twenty-two Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped in December 2011 and January 2012 by armed bandits in the north of Syria enroot Halab-Damascus road.
Towards the end of winter season of 2011, too, eleven of those pilgrims were released and delivered to Turkey and then delivered to Iranian officials.
In two other occasions, too, seven Iranian pilgrims were, freed and returned back to Iran by Turkey. Presently seen Iranian engineers are under the captivity of armed Syrian opposition forces.
Those engineers were working at Jondar Power Plant in central Syria when they were kidnapped on December 16th, 2011 by armed opposition forces of Homs and transferred to an unidentified location.
Efforts aimed at freeing the seven kidnapped Iranian engineers are still going on.
Iranian pilgrims routinely visit Syria, Iran's closest ally in the Arab world, to pray at Shi'a holy shrines, particularly that of Imam Ali's noble daughter, Lady Zeiban (P) in Damascus.
The Iranian government officials have urged Iranians not to travel by road because of lack of security in the border regions.
Iran, Russia and China have strongly backed President Bashar Assad during Syria's 11-month-old uprising.
Edited by: S. Isayev