Iranian Engineers Abducted in Syria Freed

Seven Iranian engineers kidnapped near Syria's embattled city of Homs in late December have been released, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday, quoting an informed source at the ministry of energy.

The seven were working at a power plant in Jandar, near Homs, the city in central Syria that has become one of the flashpoints in the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

"Seven Iranian engineers working on an electricity power plant in Jandar have been released," the ministry source was quoted as saying.

The kidnapped men all work for the Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company, or Mapna, which is the Iranian energy ministry's biggest contractor.

An unknown group calling itself the "Movement Against the Expansion of Shiism in Syria" claimed responsibility for their abduction in a statement received by Agence France Presse at the beginning of January.

The group said it had sent demands to the Iranian embassy in Damascus that had to be met for the hostages to be freed.

The announcement of their release comes three days after Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said 11 Iranian pilgrims who were also recently abducted in Syria had been freed.

Another 11 Iranian pilgrims are still being held in captivity.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians travel to Syria each year to visit a Shiite holy site, the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, in southern Damascus.

Iran's passport and immigration service last week banned Iranians from going to Syria by road to reduce the risk of further abductions.

Syria, Iran's principal ally in the Middle East, is roiled by an 11 month uprising that has seen more than 6,000 people killed, according to human rights groups.