Tehran - Iran has condemned Thursday's kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat in north-western Pakistan, ISNA news agency reported.

"This has been a terrorist act which we harshly condemn," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashgavi said.

Gunmen ambushed a car carrying commercial attache Hashmat Atharzadeh and seized the diplomat who was travelling to the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the troubled North West Frontier Province.

Police in Pakistan said the kidnappers intercepted the vehicle in the upscale Hayatabad neighbourhood and shot dead a police guard.

The gunmen also killed Atharzadeh's bodyguard and driver, according to Ghashgavi said.

"We are in contact with the Pakistani government and local officials (in Hayatabad) and we hope that both of them would seriously follow up the case, identify the culprits and enable the release and safe return of our diplomat," he said. (dpa)