AFP - A female German aid worker abducted at gunpoint two days ago in Kabul was rescued by police early Monday, an officer involved in the operation and an official said.

The woman had been rescued and six kidnappers arrested, police colonel Ghulam Rasoul, who was part of the operation, told AFP.

"Yes, we successfully rescued her," the colonel said, adding the woman was located in a house in southwest Kabul not far from the area where she had been abducted in broad daylight on Saturday.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemary Bashary also told AFP that the hostage, who in a video released Sunday by her abductors identified herself as Christina Meier, had been rescued.

"The (interior) minister and intelligence chief themselves were involved in (overseeing) the operation and the hostage was freed," Bashary said.

A source at ORA International, the aid group the woman worked for, said one if its representatives had gone to collect her.

In the video Sunday the woman, wearing a long dress and a white headscarf, said she was "okay" but appeared nervous.

"I'm okay, I want my country to try to help secure my freedom as soon as possible," she had said, seated cross-legged and reading haltingly in Afghanistan's Dari language, with prompts in English from a man nearby.

The woman was kidnapped in the Afghan capital by what officials said was likely a criminal gang. She displayed an ID card bearing her name and said she worked for ORA International.

One of her apparent captors, his face covered, said the kidnappers were not Taliban militants. But he demanded the release of several prisoners from Afghan jails, just as Taliban insurgents holding 19 South Koreans have done.

"For her release, we want (President) Hamid Karzai's government to free our innocent prisoners," he said, also in Dari.

Printer Friendly Version | E-mail this to a friend

digg