TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iran said Sunday that militants linked to a string of bombings in its southeastern oil city of Ahvaz have been arrested in Syria and Turkey.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Mohsen Farokhnejad, head of security in the Khuzestan provincial governor's office, as saying the suspects were "Salafists" -- or followers of a puritan school of thought within Sunni Islam.

"These people have Salafist views and were recently arrested in Syria," he was quoted as saying.

He added Ali Ayashi, one of the main alleged financers of militants in Khuzestan, was also arrested in neighboring Turkey and that the Iranian interior and foreign ministries were "following up on his extradition to Iran".

The capital of Khuzestan province, Ahvaz has been hit by a wave of unrest over the past year.

The city was rocked by a string of car bombings in the run-up to the June presidential election, followed by more bomb attacks in October last year and January 2006.