Unidentified assailants shot and wounded a South Korean tourist on Tuesday in southeastern Iran, reported the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, citing a press report.
The government-run daily Iran said that "the man, along with three women, were riding a Hyundai sedan on the way from Zahedan to the border city Mir-Javeh when they were fired on."
Zahedan's governor, Mohammad Khosravi, told the paper that the assailants were on board a pick-up.
"The Korean national received injuries on his right leg and left toe," Khosravi said.
"The tourists entered Iran from Turkey and were intending to visit Pakistan before returning home," the governor added.
Police have launched an extensive investigation into the incident.
In a similar incident in September 1999, gunmen, believed to be drug traffickers, kidnapped three Portuguese nationals while travelling on a desert road in the same province, said IRNA.
A "band of drug traffickers" had initially seized seven Portuguese nationals, but later released four of them, including three women.
In August that year, drug traffickers held four Europeans for two weeks in southern Iran and later freed them unharmed. In June, three Italians were kidnapped for one week before they were freed.
Iranian officials fear that such incidents could harm the country's nascent tourism industry.
Gangs run rampant along Iran's border with Afghanistan, trafficking opium on a route to Europe and beyond. Iran's security forces have lost over 3,000 members in their war on drugs and associated crime – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
