Four Iranian border guards rescued by Pakistani security forces after they were abducted by militants have returned to Tehran, state media report.
State television showed a video of the border guards on March 22 stepping off a transport plane to a hero’s welcome.
Their commander, Brigadier-General Mohammad Pakpour, who heads Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), greeted the guards.
Pakistani military officials said earlier that their security forces had rescued four Iranian soldiers who were being held by a militant group in the country's Chaghi District of Balochistan Province, near the Afghan border.
"Terrorists of a proscribed organization were reported to have entered Pakistan from the Afghanistan side along with abducted Iranian soldiers," the Pakistani military said.
"After exchange of fire, four Iranian soldiers [were] recovered," it continued.
The Pakistani statement did not say when the abductions took place or which group had taken the guards captive.
Based on reporting by AFP and dpa