Four Iranian pilgrims abducted by an armed group in Iraq have been released, an Iranian diplomat says. "The four have arrived at our consulate in Karbala" in southern Iraq, from where they will be returned home, the diplomat said on Wednesday. The four men were seized, along with two Iranian women, on Monday as they travelled in a minibus near Balad, 75km north of the capital Baghdad. The two women were released unharmed on Tuesday.