KABUL, Nov 23: Three United Nations hostages were freed in Afghanistan on Tuesday unharmed and healthy after almost four weeks in captivity amid conflicting claims over whether the government promised to free Taliban prisoners in exchange for their release.
Annetta Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo and Filipino Angelito Nayan were released unharmed and in good spirits, UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.
"We are very, very happy and relieved that they are back... They seem to be in good spirits," he said. A source close the investigation who met the trio on Tuesday afternoon said he was surprised at how well they looked after their ordeal.
"They looked very healthy. They were very well treated," he said. However, mystery still surrounds the exact circumstances of their release. Government officials insisted no deal had been made with the hostage-takers but a spokesman for a Taliban splinter group which claimed to have been holding the hostages said 24 Taliban prisoners were to be released in exchange for their freedom.
"No prisoners were released, no money was paid, no demand was accepted," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali told reporters. He said the hostages had been abandoned at a location in Kabul and were released without a military operation.
"We want to state firmly that we will continue to search for the criminal elements that conducted the abduction," Mr Jalali said. The three were snatched at gunpoint from their car in busy lunchtime traffic in Kabul by armed men on Oct 28.
A spokesman for Jaishul Muslimeen claimed it had been holding them and was promised the release of 24 Taliban prisoners in exchange for their freedom. "The government might say that the three were released on no deal, but that is not possible," spokesman Sayed Khaled told by phone from an undisclosed location.
"We released the two UN workers in exchange for 24 of our prisoners that they have promised to release starting today (Tuesday)." Hebibi was released because of an appeal by a Kosovar businessman and the Muslims of Kosovo, he added. -AFP
