Kidnapped NY Times journalist freed

AFGHANISTAN: A New York Times journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan has been freed during a special forces operation but his Afghan colleague was killed by the Taliban, an Afghan official said Wednesday.

Stephen Farrell, who is Irish, and his colleague Sultan Mohammad went missing on Saturday in the northern province of Kunduz, where a NATO air strike killed civilians and dozens of Taliban insurgents.

"Last night in a US special forces operation in Chardara district, they managed to free Stephen Farrell but the Afghan journalist Sultan Mohammad was killed by Taliban during the operation," said Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar.

The New York Times website reported on its website that "commandos free Times reporter from captors in Afghanistan" but provided no immediate details.

Abdul Razaq Yaqubi, the provincial police chief, said he heard the information and was sending a team to the area to find out what happened.

Farrell was the second foreign correspondent working for the New York Times to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in less than a year. David Rohde and a local reporter were abducted outside Kabul with their driver last November, but escaped in June, the newspaper reported. AFP