German aid worker hostage released in Afghanistan
A German aid worker who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in August has been released and is in good health, her employer has said.
The condition of the woman, who has not been named, was "good, considering the circumstances", the GIZ development organisation said. She is "very relieved and happy" at being released, it added. The kidnapping happened in a central Kabul neighbourhood, where a number of foreign aid agencies are based. No details have been given about the circumstances of the woman's release. German Foreign Minister Frank Walter-Steinmeier, who is visiting Tehran, said he was "very relieved" at the news and thanked the Afghan government and the country's security forces. The kidnapping was the second abduction of a GIZ aid worker this year. Another employee of the agency was kidnapped in the restive northern province of Kunduz and rescued in a police operation after 40 days in captivity. In April the bodies of five Afghan workers for Save the Children were found after they were abducted by gunmen in the strife-torn southern province of Uruzgan.