TEHRAN, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Armed bandits in southeast Iran stopped a bus with gunfire on Sunday and took as many as 31 Iranians as hostages, the Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

    The bus was moving on the road between the coastal port of Chahrbahar and the town of Iranshahr farther inland in the southeast province of Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the report.

    "They took 31 passengers, including an education ministry official, the gunmen then also attacked a number of passing cars, set them on fire," it added.

    According to the local ISNA news agency, "the bandits shot at the vehicle and stopped it, 30 people were kidnapped, some other people in passing cars were also wounded during the gunfire."

    However, the official IRNA news agency reported earlier in the day that only two people were taken as hostages, but adding the details were still unclear.

    The state television report said that the abducted hostages had been transported across the border into Pakistan.

    Southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province and its nearby province of Kerman have been hit by a string of attacks and kidnappings in the past years, which the Iranian authorities blamed on a Sunni group called Jundallah.

    Last Sunday, two Belgian tourists were kidnapped by bandits while visiting the historic sites near the ancient city of Bam in Kerman. The female one was soon released, but the man was still believed to be held.