An Iranian Foreign Ministry official rebuffed reports claiming that some of the Iranian pilgrims abducted in Syria were killed by the Syrian insurgent abductors

An Iranian Foreign Ministry official rebuffed reports claiming that some of the Iranian pilgrims abducted in Syria were killed by the Syrian insurgent abductors, saying all abductees are in good health.

“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 said further efforts are underway to return the pilgrims to Iran immediately.

Unconfirmed media reports claimed that three of the pilgrims have been murdered.