Kidnapped British journalist rescued by US special forces in Afghanistan

Kunduz (Afghanistan), Sep 9(ANI): British journalist Stephen Farrell, who was working for the New York Times when he was kidnapped in Afghanistan four days ago, has been rescued by a team of US special forces.

Farrell and his colleague Sultan Munadi went missing on Saturday from Afghanistan's Kunduz province.

"Last night in a US special forces operation in Chardara district, they managed to free Stephen Farrell, but the Afghan journalist Sultan Mohammad [Munadi] was killed by Taliban during the operation," The Telegraph quoted Mohammad Omar, Kunduz Governor, as saying.

Farrell was rescued after a fierce firefight between the commandos and his captors.

"We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran, it was obviously a raid. We thought they would kill us. We thought should we go out," Farrell said.

"There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices," he added.

Further referring to Munadi's death, Farrell said: "He was so close, he was just two feet in front of me when he dropped."

The British Ministry of Defence refused to confirm whether British special forces were involved in the operation.

"We do not comment on special forces. All we can say is that it was a Nato operation," a spokeswoman said. (ANI)