French tourist kidnapped in Pakistan: police

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped a French tourist in a Pakistani region bordering Iran and Afghanistan Saturday, police said.

Five French nationals, including two children, were traveling by road to Iran when one of them was abducted at gunpoint near Dalbandin town in the southwestern Baluchistan province. Dalbandin is 200 km (125 miles) west of the provincial capital, Quetta.

"The gunmen took away one of the tourists and the remaining four later reported the matter to police," district police chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, told Reuters.

Ahmed said foreigners were supposed to inform the authorities while visiting Baluchistan but the French tourists did not do so. "They were traveling without any escort. We are trying to recover the missing man as early as possible."

No one claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in a region where Islamist militants are active. Ethnic Baluch militants have also waged a low-level insurgency for more autonomy and control over gas and other natural resources in the province.

An American U.N. refugee official was kidnapped in Quetta in February and was later released in April.

In Paris, the foreign ministry said in a statement that it had heard of the kidnapping of the French tourist, but gave no further details.

"French authorities, notably the French embassy in Islamabad and the crisis center of the Foreign Ministry, have been fully mobilized," the statement said.

(Reporting by Gul Yousufzai, writing by Zeeshan Haider)