Unidentified gunmen have reportedly abducted an Iranian diplomat and killed his driver in an ambush in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The commercial attache, Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki, was kidnapped on Thursday on his way to Iran's consulate, IRNA reported.

Iran's ambassador to Islamabad, Mashallah Shakeri, said the embassy is taking serious and appropriate measures to identify the kidnappers and release the diplomat.

Shakeri held the Pakistani government responsible for the safety of foreign diplomats in the country, calling on Islamabad to work in full cooperation with the Iranians and help release the attache.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the kidnapping and ordered the authorities to take every necessary action to find the abducted Iranian diplomat.

This is while, Pakistan's Interior ministry has taken an extraordinary step, ordering all the security agencies to dispatch their forces and recover the Iranian diplomat, Press TV's Pakistan correspondent reported.

Last night, the police had issued a warning to foreign diplomats in Peshawar over the recent kidnappings in the hotspot area.

Peshawar is the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province which borders Afghanistan. The volatile province has been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Pakistani forces and pro-Taliban militants in recent months.

On Tuesday, a bomb attack at the main gate of Peshawar's Qayum Stadium claimed four lives.

AR/MMN