UN hostages released in Afghanistan

Three foreign UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan were released unharmed today, almost a month after they were abducted at gunpoint on the streets of Kabul.

Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan were ‘‘abandoned’’ at an unidentified location in Kabul. He denied any deal had been struck to secure their release.

The three were abducted on October 28 after helping run a presidential election and had been threatened with death by a Taliban faction, Jaish-E Muslimeen, which claimed to have held them.

‘‘We are very, very happy and very relieved,’’ said UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida E Silva. ‘‘Staff in UN offices are in jubilation.’’