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Report: Iranian engineers freed in Afghanistan

By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Twelve Iranian engineers were abducted in Afghanistan on Monday, state media says
  • All have been freed, it says Wednesday
  • Abductions are common in Afghanistan

(CNN) -- Several Iranian engineers who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan have been freed, state-run Press TV of Iran reported Wednesday.

Twelve engineers were abducted Monday in western Afghanistan's Farah province, which borders Iran, Press TV said.

Kidnappers freed one of the 12 on Tuesday; the others have been "freed and moved to a secure location," the report said.

The engineers had been working with a construction company and were building a training center for Afghan police, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported this week, citing Naqibollah Farahi, spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan's Farah province.

"These individuals were abducted with their two cars in the Hassan-Abad region of this province yesterday afternoon," Fars quoted Farahi as saying.

Abductions are common in Afghanistan, for ransoms and for political and criminal reasons.