(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Armed insurgents have kidnapped 48 Iranians near the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to reports from Syrian media.

The Iranian pilgrims were traveling on a bus to Damascus International Airport, located some 30 kilometers outside the capital.

The Iranian Embassy in Damascus has confirmed that they were abducted by unknown insurgents but the Syrian state officials are yet to comment on the abduction.


This is not the first time that Iranians have been kidnapped by armed gunmen in Syria.

In January, a group of armed assailants attacked a bus and abducted 11 Iranian pilgrims on the road connecting Damascus to the northwestern city of Aleppo.

In December 2011, armed insurgents also kidnapped five engineers in the city of Homs while they were on their way to work at the city's Jandar power plant that is under construction by Iranian technicians. Two other Iranians, trying to determine the fate of the engineers, were also abducted.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.

Damascus says ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists’ are behind the unrest while the West and the opposition accuse the security forces of killing protesters.

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