Belgian couple missing in southeast Iran - report

TEHRAN, Aug 13 (Reuters) A Belgian couple have gone missing in southeast Iran, a region where foreigners have previously been kidnapped by armed gangs of smugglers, an Iranian official said today.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA said the two Belgians went missing on a road between Bam, a historic city destroyed by an earthquake in 2003, and Zahedan, which is close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

IRNA said they had been missing since yesterday, but another Iranian news agency suggested they had disappeared on Saturday.

The governor of Bam province, Majid Etemadi, said they were a married couple travelling by car.

''The two tourists from Belgium ... vanished two days ago and there is no news about them,'' Etemadi told the ISNA news agency.

''The issue is being investigated and security forces are following up the case.'' An official at the Belgian embassy in Tehran said the mission was following up the report but had no further information.

The southeast of Iran is notorious for clashes between the military and well-armed drugs smugglers. Parts of the region are dotted with trenches and machinegun posts.

Tourists visiting the area are advised not to travel at night. In the past, European and other tourists have been kidnapped in the region. Some were held by smugglers for weeks in a bid to secure the release of detained relatives.

REUTERS SKB HS1840