KABUL, Nov 23 (AFP) - Three United Nations hostages were freed in Afghanistan 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 told AFP.
A source close the investigation who met the trio 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," Jalali said.
The three were snatched at gunpoint from their car in busy lunchtime traffic in Kabul by armed men on October 28. They had been overseeing Afghanistan`s historic presidential election on October 9.
A spokesman for Jaishul Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), a shadowy Taliban splinter group, 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 AFP 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.
The government, however, has said it believed a criminal gang was holding the UN workers.
Two weeks ago a criminal suspected of links to the kidnappers died in police custody amid allegations he was tortured.
Minister Jalali said several military operations had been conducted in recent days and "these operations might have helped" in getting them released.
One person was killed in a raid on the Shomali plain north of Kabul on Monday, four others were injured and a group of people arrested, Jalali said.
US military and Afghan intelligence also carried out a dramatic predawn raid in Kabul Monday, firing rockets at one house and storming into two others before detaining at least 10 people.
The kidnappings, the first of foreign UN or aid workers in Kabul since the Taliban regime was ousted three years ago, triggered fears of a spate of Iraq-style abductions of foreigners.
With their release there was an atmosphere of relief and jubilation among relatives overseas and colleagues in Kabul, and messages of gratitude from Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Flanigan`s family expressed "incredible relief" in a statement issued through the Foreign Office in London.
"After all the terrible anxiety of the last 27 days, it is an incredible relief to know that Annetta is safe and well and now reunited with her husband Jose," the statement said.
"Knowing that we have been in so many people`s thoughts and prayers has been a great source of comfort to us," it said.
11/23/2004 14:39 GMT - AFP