Iran's Revolutionary Guards have rescued all six people who were taken hostage in a restive south-eastern province, killing some of the "bandits" who were holding them.
Five soldiers and one bank employee were seized from a bus in the early hours of Thursday in Sistan-Baluchestan, an impoverished area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"In an operation, the Revolutionary Guards killed some of the bandits while some others were arrested. All six hostages were freed," lawmaker Hossein-Ali Shahriari said.
The region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a hotspot for militants of Jundollah, which killed 28 people in a suicide bombing in a mosque there in July.
The men - five soldiers and one bank employee - were seized from a bus they were travelling in in the early hours of Thursday.
Iran says Jundollah has links to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and in the past has accused Pakistan, Britain and the United States of backing Jundollah to create instability in the southeast of predominantly Shi'ite Iran.
All three countries have denied this, and Jundollah - whose leader Abdolmalek Rigi was executed in June - denies having any association with al Qaeda.
Reuters