BAGHDAD — Efforts were under way on Saturday to secure the release of three American hikers who were arrested in Iran after they crossed the border from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the Kurdish government said.
Iranian state television confirmed Saturday that the Americans had been detained Friday after crossing the border from northern Iraq. The station, Al Alam, said Iranian border guards had first warned the Americans “not to get near the border.”
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The Kurdish regional government, in a statement issued late Saturday, said the Americans had “lost their way due to their lack of familiarity with the location, and entered Iranian territory.”
The statement said they were part of a group of four Americans who entered Kurdistan on Wednesday by land from Turkey and spent the night at a backpackers’ hotel in Sulaimaniya. Kurdish security officers said that the Americans were students, ages 27 to 36, and that two of them had been studying Arabic in Damascus, Syria
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/world/middleeast/02iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world++++++++++++++
Syria is an unusual place for Americans to go to "study" Arabic. Hiking in Iraq is a curious tourist draw.
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Sorry the topic is a duplicate. I've added some different info. than the original one.
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