Swiss couple held by Taliban freed
Source: Agencies |
March 16, 2012, Friday
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A SWISS couple held captive by the Taliban in Pakistan since July turned up at an army post close to the Afghan border yesterday and was flown to safety by the Pakistani military, an army spokesman said.
The Swiss man and woman, who were seized in July in the southwest of the country, were last seen in a militant video in October, saying their captors were threatening to kill them.
Major General Athar Abbas said the couple - David Och and Daniela Widmer - showed up at an army post in Miran Shah in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold. He said the couple was then flown to Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan, on an army helicopter. "They say they escaped from the custody of militants."
Two local Taliban commanders said the couple had been freed, but only after an undisclosed ransom had been paid and some Taliban prisoners were released from Pakistani custody.
Militants and criminal gangs often kidnap wealthy Pakistanis and less commonly foreigners. Large ransoms are often paid to secure their release but such payments are rarely confirmed.
There are at least five other foreigners currently being held in Pakistan.
On January 5, armed men kidnapped a British man working for the Red Cross in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, the violence-hit province where the Swiss couple was also seized.
Last August, a 70-year-old American humanitarian aid worker was kidnapped from his house in the Punjab city of Lahore. Al-Qaida claimed to be holding the man, Warren Weinstein, and said in a video he'd be freed if the United States stopped airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
The Swiss man and woman, who were seized in July in the southwest of the country, were last seen in a militant video in October, saying their captors were threatening to kill them.
Major General Athar Abbas said the couple - David Och and Daniela Widmer - showed up at an army post in Miran Shah in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold. He said the couple was then flown to Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan, on an army helicopter. "They say they escaped from the custody of militants."
Two local Taliban commanders said the couple had been freed, but only after an undisclosed ransom had been paid and some Taliban prisoners were released from Pakistani custody.
Militants and criminal gangs often kidnap wealthy Pakistanis and less commonly foreigners. Large ransoms are often paid to secure their release but such payments are rarely confirmed.
There are at least five other foreigners currently being held in Pakistan.
On January 5, armed men kidnapped a British man working for the Red Cross in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, the violence-hit province where the Swiss couple was also seized.
Last August, a 70-year-old American humanitarian aid worker was kidnapped from his house in the Punjab city of Lahore. Al-Qaida claimed to be holding the man, Warren Weinstein, and said in a video he'd be freed if the United States stopped airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
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