A New York Times reporter is free and in good health after escaping from his Taliban captors.
Forty-one-year-old
David Rohde, Afghan reporter Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah
Mangal, were kidnapped outside Kabul last November and had been held
hostage for the past seven months.
The Times says Rohde and
Ludin scaled the wall of a compound in the North Waziristan region of
Pakistan late Friday night and found a Pakistani army scout, who led
them to freedom.
Rohde was part of the Times Pulitzer Prize
award winning team covering Afghanistan and Pakistan, and had gone to
Afghanistan to research a book.
The Times said it and other media organizations had refused to talk about the incident "out of concern for the men's safety."
The newspaper said Ludin hurt his foot in the escape.
The
Times said since the men were taken more than seven months ago there
had only been sporadic communication from them and their Taliban
kidnappers.
Both the newspaper and Mr. Rohde's family say no ransom was paid.
Mr.
Rohde's wife, Kristen Mulvihill, says the family is grateful for his
safe return. The couple got married just two months before the
kidnapping.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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