Kidnapped Belgians freed in Iran

BRUSSELS, Aug 14 (Reuters) A Belgian man and woman kidnapped in southeastern Iran at the weekend have been released, a Belgian foreign ministry spokesman said today.

An Iranian official was quoted yesterday as saying they had been abducted by a bandit group led by a man named Ismael Shahbakhsh who demanded that his jailed brother be freed in return for their release.

''The mother of one of the two people was in contact with her son this afternoon. He said he was safe and in good health, and it was the same for the other person,'' the foreign ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said an envoy from the Belgian embassy in Tehran would be sent as soon as possible to the city of Bam to help the two Belgians.

Iranian news reports had said the two had been travelling by car in an area between Bam and Iran's border with Afghanistan and Pakistan when they were seized.

The man's mother said the two were now in a safe location some 150 kilometres south west of where they were kidnapped, the Belgian spokesman added.

Iran signalled before the release that it would not give in to the demands of kidnappers and had tightened border controls to prevent them from being taken out of the country, Iranian media reported.

Southeastern Iran is notorious for clashes between the military and well-armed drugs smugglers.

The Belgian foreign ministry spokesman declined to name the two, but said they were not a married couple and that both were from the Flemish part of Belgium.

Tourists visiting the region are advised not to travel at night. In the past, European and other tourists have been abducted there. Kidnappers held some for weeks in a bid to secure detained relatives' release from jail.

Reuters SBA VP0056