An Iranian diplomat kidnapped last month in Pakistan is alive, Tehran's ambassador to Islamabad was quoted by a newspaper as saying on Sunday. Gunmen kidnapped Hashmatullah Attarzadeh on his way to the consulate in Peshawar on November 13 and killed his local guard.
"The embassy's efforts to locate him have been somewhat satisfactory and we have learned with Pakistani security officials' help that he is alive," Mashallah Shakeri was quoted as saying by mass-circulation Hamshahri newspaper. "We hope he will return to his family soon," the Iranian ambassador added.