Iran's FM says some abducted Iranians in Syria "retired army members": ISNA

TEHRAN, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said some of the Iranians abducted in Syria are retired members of the army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the semi-official ISNA news agency reported Wednesday.

On his way back from Turkey, Salehi told reporters that among the Iranian pilgrims abducted in Syria there were a number of retired army and IRGC members as well as civilians, said the report.

According to ISNA's earlier report on Sunday, an informed source in Iran's Foreign Ministry denied that the abducted Iranians were militants.

The unnamed official "strongly" rejected media reports that the Iranian pilgrims were militants, and said that certain media wanted to misuse the incident, the Sunday report said.

Salehi visited Ankara on Tuesday and discussed the abduction of Iranian pilgrims in Syria with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Iran asked Turkey to help release the abducted and the latter promised to do their best in this regard, Salehi was quoted as saying by ISNA.

Forty-eight Iranian pilgrims were abducted Saturday by militants in the Syrian capital Damascus. Enditem

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