Armed Attackers Kidnap 20 Iranian Pilgrims in Iraq

TEHRAN (AFP) -- A group of 20 Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped in Iraq by a gang of armed assailants who opened fire to halt their convoy, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday.

The report said the incident took place late on Sunday, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) inside Iraq from the Iranian border town of Khosravi. IRNA said the attackers also took the pilgrims' vehicles.

It was not clear if the pilgrims were making a legal journey to Shiite Muslim sites in Iraq. Since the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, thousands have made the journey illegally, despite a growing death toll from landmines and bandits.

Pilgrimages to Iraq's holy Shiite places were halted throughout the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and only resumed in very limited numbers at the end of the 1990's.