PESHAWAR, Nov 13: An Iranian diplomat was kidnapped and his guard was killed on way to his office by unidentified armed men in Peshawar's Hayatabad Township on Thursday.

Hashmatullah Attaar Zadeh, a commercial attaché at the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, was driving his official car and had just left his residence, when three persons blocked his way. The attache was pulled out of the car and bundled away in the kidnapper's vehicle parked nearby at the upscale township.

The diplomat was living here without his family.

This is the second high profile case of targeting a foreigner within the last two days. Last Wednesday unidentified persons had killed a US aid worker, Steve Vance, and his driver in University Town.

“The rise in kidnapping cases was a reaction to the operations launched against militants in different areas of the district and tribal areas,” said the Capital City Police Officer Dr Mohammad Suleman. He said police had now modified the security plan in order to overcome such crimes.

The guard of the diplomat, Sajjad Hussein, who was a police constable, was sitting on the rear seat and was gunned down when he offered resistance. His funeral prayers was offered at the Malak Saad Khan Police Lines and was later buried at his ancestral graveyard in Maryamzai Mathni.

“Three bearded persons having strong physique, two of them armed with Kalashnikov rifles blocked the road at a narrow bridge in front of bungalow Bo 140-A and kidnapped the diplomat within few minutes,” said one of the eyewitness. The kidnappers also took away the official of a police constable after killing him.

Eyewitnesses claimed that kidnappers were riding a white colour corolla car which was parked on the main road at a short distance from the Hayatabad Medical Complex, who drove the Iranian official through a service road entered the main road passing by the offices of City Development and Municipal Department.

A retired banker Mushtaq, who is owner the bungalow No 140, told this correspondent that his son Naeem Khan when saw the constable in critical condition took him to the hospital in the diplomat’s car, but he succumbed to his injuries. The constable had sustained three bullets at his chest and head.

The side windowpanes were smashed and a bullet had hit the windscreen. The diplomat’s car was then taken to Hayatabad police station.

The SP Cantonment Circle Abdul Qadir Qamar, when contacted told Dawn that police had provided proper security at his residence and martyrdom of a policeman who was his bodyguard was ample proof of it.

He said one close circuit television camera was installed at the Jamrud road but it could not catch a glimpse of the kidnappers’ car. He said the area was very vast and installation of close circuit cameras at all important points was need of the hour.

About the investigation, he said a team headed by SSP investigation Mian Ghulam Mohammad, comprising SP Cantonment Circle, DSP Cant, ASP Cant and relevant station house officer, was constituted.

The suspected militants have started targeting foreigners and high profile persons in the city. The director of the U.S-funded development programme for the tribal region along with his driver was killed on Wednesday outside his residence.

Similarly, the Afghan Ambassador-designate Abdul Khaliq Farahi was kidnapped on Sept 22 and his driver Khalid Khan, an Afghan national, was shot dead for resisting the assailants at Hayatabad Township. Mr Farahi has yet to be recovered by the law enforcing agencies. 
 
Moreover, the bullet-proof vehicle of the US Consulate’s Principal Officer Lynne Tracy was also fired at in University Town Peshawar on Aug 26, but she had remained unhurt.

Brother of a federal minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri was also kidnapped from Hayatabad on Nov 12. A senior police official said he was kidnapped by armed men of the Bara-based Lashkar-e-Islam, but he could be released only through negotiations.