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.’’
The three appeared in good health and good spirits and were expected to leave Afghanistan soon, he said. Jaish leader Akbar Agha insisted Flanigan and Nayan were freed in return for 24 Taliban prisoners and Hebibi after an appeal by Kosovan businessman Behgjet Pacolli, a family friend.