KABUL, Nov 23 (AFP) - Three foreign United Nations workers kidnapped and held hostage in Afghanistan for three weeks were released early Tuesday, police and officials told AFP.
A senior police official told AFP that UN staffers Annetta Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan, were released early Tuesday morning.
"The three hostages were released early on Tuesday morning but we don`t have any details on how they were released," he said.
The trio, who had been helping oversee Afghanistan`s first democratic elections, were snatched from busy lunchtime traffic in downtown Kabul on October 28 by armed men who later claimed to be a Taliban splinter group.
All three workers are now at Camp Warehouse, receiving medical examinations but appeared to be well and unharmed, diplomats and sources close to the case told AFP.
Relieved officials in the Philippines meanwhile said they had been informed of the safe release of the hostages, praising the work of Afghan and UN officials during the crisis.
A spokesman for President Gloria Arroyo, Silvestre Afable, said he had been informed by Filipino officials on the ground in Kabul that the hostages "are all safe and well."
"We appreciate the efforts of the UN as well as of the Afghan government," Afable said, adding that no ransom had been paid for the freedom of the three.
The circumstances of the hostages release remained unclear, but their freeing came a day after US and Afghan forces staged a dramatic pre-dawn raid on three houses in southwest Kabul in an effort to locate the trio.
At least 10 people were detained during the raid for questioning by Afghan intelligence.
A shadowy Taliban splinter group Jaishul Muslimeen claimed to be holding the hostages but some Afghan government officials said a criminal gang may have been responsible for the abductions.
Two weeks ago a criminal suspected of links to the kidnappers died in police custody amid allegations he was tortured.
The kidnappings were the first of foreign UN or aid workers in Kabul since the Taliban regime collapsed three years ago.
It triggered fears of a spate of abductions mimicking the frequent hostage-takings that have plagued Iraq, where more than 30 foreign hostages have been killed by their captors.
Despite the hostages` release, United Nations staff are likely to continue with strict security precautions, travelling with armed escorts and observing a strict curfew.
11/23/2004 04:33 GMT - AFP