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Four die in Afghan rescue mission | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Nato soldiers have rescued a kidnapped UK journalist from the Taliban in a dramatic pre-dawn helicopter mission in Afghanistan that left four others dead. | |
New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was freed unhurt. His Afghan colleague Sultan Munadi was killed along with a UK soldier and two Afghan civilians. | |
Mr Farrell, who holds British and Irish nationality, was "extracted" by "a lot of soldiers", the New York Times said. | |
The pair were seized in northern Kunduz province on Saturday. | |
They were investigating a Nato air strike on two hijacked fuel tankers that left many dead. | |
There were bullets all around us, I could hear British and Afghan voices Stephen Farrell class="" href="/2/hi/south_asia/8245768.stm">Kidnap reporter 'fearless' class="" href="/2/hi/south_asia/1549285.stm">Who are the Taliban? class="" href="/2/hi/middle_east/3610521.stm">Farrell 'kidnapped' in Iraq | |
It is not the first time Farrell has been abducted on assignment - in 2004 he was briefly kidnapped in Iraq while working for the London Times newspaper. | |
In remarks quoted on the New York Times website, Farrell said the Taliban tried to flee as the helicopters descended. | |
"There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices," he said. | |
The reporter told his newspaper he ran outside with Mr Munadi, reportedly a 34-year-old Afghan father-of-two who was on a break from university studies in Germany. | |
He said Mr Munadi shouted: "Journalist! Journalist!" But he was shot and collapsed. | |
Farrell said he did not know whether the shots had been fired by their rescuers or the militants. | |
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Afghan police inspect the car from which Stephen Farrell and Sultan Munadi were kidnapped | Afghan police inspect the car from which Stephen Farrell and Sultan Munadi were kidnapped |
The correspondent said he was beckoned by British voices from a ditch where he had hid, and as he emerged saw the body of Mr Munadi. | |
Journalists' anger | |
The head of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, Rahimullah Samandar, said the raid showed international forces did not care about Afghan reporters. | |
Mr Samandar said it was not the first time a kidnapped Afghan journalist had been killed while a Western colleague was freed. | |
Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, said the newspaper was "overjoyed" at Farrell's release, but "deeply saddened it came at such a cost". | |
Afghan journalists have condemned the translator's killing | |
A local governor told the BBC two civilians also died in the raid. | |
A resident of Char Dara district in Kunduz province, Mohammad Nabi, reportedly said it was his home that was raided, and that his brother's wife was killed. | |
The Taliban had turned up there on Tuesday night with the journalist and interpreter, demanding shelter, Mr Nabi told Reuters news agency. | |
He said helicopters arrived later and "then the soldiers blew open the door of my house, killing my sister-in-law, and took the reporter away with them". | |
Farrell and Mr Munadi were kidnapped in Kunduz province on Saturday while investigating the Nato air strike a day earlier when a German commander called in a US jet to bomb two hijacked fuel tankers. | |
Unconfirmed reports have suggested at least 70 civilians died. | |
The New York Times pair were reportedly interviewing villagers at the site of the burned-out trucks when gunfire rang out and a group of armed militants arrived. | |
Farrell is the second New York Times journalist to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in a year. | Farrell is the second New York Times journalist to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in a year. |
In June, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Rohde and an Afghan colleague were abducted in Kabul and taken to Pakistan, where they escaped. |