French tourist kidnapped in Balochistan: police

Gunmen kidnapped a French tourist in Balochistan on Saturday, snatching him from a group of compatriots, who included women and children, in southwestern area of the province, police said. The 41-year-old man was kidnapped in an area where ethnic Baluch separatist groups and Islamist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are known to operate, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border with Afghanistan. His abduction comes seven weeks after an American UN official was released following a two-month hostage ordeal in Baluchistan that was claimed by a shadowy Baluch rebel group trying to extract concessions from the central government. Six kidnappers armed with Kalashnikovs stopped the two French men, two women and two children travelling by car near Landi, a small town around 200 kilometres east of the Iranian border, said police officer Merrullah.