Iranian official rejects reports of abductees’ murder in Syria

“The contacts made to obtain information on the fate of the pilgrims show that they are all in good health and there is no indication that some of them have been martyred,” Mojtaba Ferdowsipour, the head of the Middle East affairs department in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with Al-Alam news channel on Wednesday.

    He rejected reports that some of the abductees have been killed and said further efforts are underway to return the pilgrims to Iran immediately.

On August 4, 48 Iranians, traveling on a bus from Damascus International Airport to the shrine of Hazrat Zeinab (AS) on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, were abducted by insurgents.

Unconfirmed media reports said three of the pilgrims have been killed.

Iran has asked Turkey and Qatar to help secure the release of the kidnapped Iranian pilgrims.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged the international body to act immediately to obtain the release of the Iranian nationals.