Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on the Qatari government to do its best to help release the 48 Iranian pilgrims who were abducted in Syria on Saturday.

Salehi raised the demand in a phone conversation with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani on Saturday evening.

The two sides also conferred on the latest developments in the region.

Sheikh Hamad, for his part, pledged to review the case and pursue the fate of Iranian pilgrims in Syria.

Also on Saturday, Salehi discussed the freedom of the kidnapped Iranian pilgrims in Syria in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkey and Qatar enjoy high influence on Syrian rebel groups.

Iranian pilgrims routinely visit Syria to pay homage to Shiite holy shrines.

A number of Iranians have been abducted by unknown gunmen in Syria over the past months and after unrests spread in the Arab country.

In latest development, 48 Iranian pilgrims who were traveling on a bus from Damascus International Airport to the shrine of Hazrat Zainab (AS) on the outskirts of Damascus were abducted by armed insurgents.
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News ID 182376