(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Two Iranian nationals kidnapped by Syrian rebels while on pilgrimage in Syria will be flown home on Tuesday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official says.

“Two other Iranian pilgrims kidnapped in Syria have been released… and will return to the country on Tuesday,” Head of Foreign Ministry Department for Iranian Expatriates' Affairs Seyyed Kazem Sajjadi said on Monday.

Sajjadi added that the pilgrims’ release was secured due to the efforts made by the Foreign Ministry Department for Iranian Expatriates' Affairs and Iran's embassies in Ankara and Damascus, Fars news agency reported.

The two Iranians were set free in Turkey’s border province of Hatay Monday morning.

Sajjadi also said further efforts are underway to secure the release of four other pilgrims and seven kidnapped engineers.

The Iranian engineers were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the troubled Syrian city of Homs in December 2011.

Two more Iranian officials, trying to clarify the situation of the abducted engineers, were also kidnapped and there has been no immediate report about their whereabouts.

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