British hostage freed in Afghanistan
By politics.co.uk staff
A British journalist has been freed from Afghanistan in a dramatic military operation after being kept hostage by a Taliban group.
Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter, was kidnapped on Saturday, together with his translator, Sultan Munadi, who was killed in the rescue.
A British soldier was also killed in the attack and there are unconfirmed reports women and children may also have died in the crossfire.
Gordon Brown stressed his sadness at the death of the British soldier
“They are truly the finest among us, and all of us in Britain pay tribute to them, and to the families and communities who sustain them in their awesome responsibilities,” he said, announcing the death.
“We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran, it was obviously a raid,” Mr Farrell, who has dual British and Irish nationality, told the New York Times.
“We thought they would kill us. We thought should we go out.
“There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices.”
Mr Munadi walked forward shouting ‘journalist’ but he was shot. Mr Farrell said he could not establish whether the shots were from the Taliban or a rescuer.
He himself jumped in a ditch shouting ‘British hostage’.
Mr Farrell, 47, had been in the area of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Friday to investigate the bombing of two hijacked fuel tankers by allied forces when he was captured.
Suggestions that British special forces were involved in the operation have not been confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.
