The vacation of a retired Texas author was cut short Saturday night after she was mugged on Washington Street, becoming the latest victim of sporadic robberies and thefts targeting pedestrians.

About 9:30, Barbara Prabhu, 70, and her husband, Vasant Prabhu, 73, were walking to Annabelle Bed & Breakfast on Speed Street after dining at Duff’s Tavern and Grille when two men approached the couple and took her purse, she said.

“The guy was just so strong. He didn’t hit me. He pulled my pocketbook, and he dragged me,” said Prabhu, adding one bandit distracted her husband while the other snatched her purse.

She said her husband, a retired electrical engineer professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, was standing next to her, but was not injured.

She said the man broke her arm when he grabbed her purse, but she refused to let go. Two people offered help when they saw her on the ground, she said.

Prabhu said she was taken to River Region Medical Center where she received sutures over one of her eyes and X-rays.

“That’s more than losing a pocketbook,” she said.

The couple was headed to UT Southwestern in Dallas Monday afternoon for treatment, Prabhu said. The attack here ended their vacation.

“I don’t think we’ll ever set foot back in Vicksburg again,” said Prabhu. “The people at Annabelle were very nice. The people at the hospital were great.”

Their walking route was about 10 blocks, south through the downtown mall, past the Vicksburg Convention Center and on to Oak Street toward the B&B. They had no reason to fear being attacked.

Prabhu told Vicksburg police two thin black males about 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8, wearing blue jeans and white T-shirts took $95, then ran east on China Street, said Lt. Bobby Stewart, chief of investigations.

No suspects have been identified, Assistant Police Chief John Dolan said.

“We’re extremely concerned. We feel this was a random act,” said Dolan. “We’re hoping that someone in the public that knows something about it will give the police a call.”

Chief Walter Armstrong has made intensified downtown patrols a priority and Dolan said the department patrols the area quite often, but divides time with other areas around the city.

“We want people to feel safe when they come into our city. We want to make it as safe as we can,” Dolan said.

Kim Hopkins, executive director of the Vicksburg Main Street Program, which promotes downtown development, said she believes the purse-snatching was an isolated event.

“We are very sorry that this incident occurred,” Hopkins said. “I feel it is very safe to shop, dine, live and stay in downtown Vicksburg.”

Prabhu said Vicksburg was meeting their expectations as a destination and called the meal at Duff’s “excellent.” She said the couple had reservations at the B&B for two nights, but had not been in town a full day before the attack.

She and her husband had next planned to spend two nights in Natchez, then travel to Atlanta before going to the Biltmore Hotel in Asheville, N.C., and through the Smoky Mountains before returning to Arlington.

While Prabhu said the experience will keep her from returning to the city, Bill Seratt, executive director for the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he does not think muggings “will have any significant impact on tourism.”

He said the attack was a horrible situation for anyone to face, including tourists and citizens.

“The fact of the matter is that it could happen to anybody, anywhere, at anytime,” Seratt said.

On New Year’s Day, a Wisconsin tourist, who had been paddling down the Mississippi River during the day, was attacked and sprayed in the face while walking along Clay Street near Cherry. He wasn’t robbed and said the young man who sprayed him just kept walking. The victim was treated and released from River Region. No arrest was made in that case and the victim continued his journey, posting comments about the mugging on the Internet.

Last year, a mugging was reported on Washington Street on Aug. 2 when two AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps members were attacked while walking near Bowmar Avenue days after they arrived at the Southern Region Campus on Confederate Avenue, Stewart said. Vicksburg police made four arrests in that case.