KABUL — Commandos freed a New York Times reporter today after he was kidnapped by militants in northern Afghanistan last week, the newspaper said. An Afghan official said the reporter’s translator died in the operation.
Stephen Farrell and his translator disappeared Saturday in the northern province of Kunduz. German troops had fired on hijacked fuel tankers the day before, and many reporters traveled to the region to cover the story.
Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor, confirmed the rescue by British Special Forces and the translator’s death.
A story posted on the Times’ website quoted Farrell as saying he had been “extracted” by a commando raid carried out by “a lot of soldiers” in a firefight.
Farrell was the second Times journalist in a year to be kidnapped in Afghanistan. The Associated Press
