Islamabad - Gunmen on Thursday ambushed a car carrying an Iranian diplomat in north-western Pakistan and kidnapped the official after killing his guard, police and media reports said.

The diplomat was seized when he was travelling to the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the troubled North West Frontier Province.

A police officer said the kidnappers intercepted the vehicle in the upscale Hayatabad neighbourhood and shot dead a police guard before whisking the official and his driver away.

The attack came a day after gunmen killed an US aid worker and his driver in University Town, another highly-guarded locality in Peshawar.

In late September, suspected Taliban militants abducted the Afghan ambassador-designate Abdul Khaleq Farahi from the city that shares boundaries with the restive tribal region.

Militants holed up in Pakistan's lawless region have intensified their activities in settled areas after the surge in US attacks on their hideouts in the tribal areas. Pakistani security forces are also battling with the militants on at least three fronts near the Afghan border. (dpa)