**A UK journalist abducted in Afghanistan has been freed by Nato troops in a pre-dawn raid, an Afghan official has said.**New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was kidnapped on Saturday along with Afghan interpreter Sultan Munadi while investigating a Nato air strike.
The translator was killed by Taliban fighters during the operation.
Mr Farrell, who has dual British-Irish nationality, said he was “extracted” by “a lot of soldiers” after a fierce firefight, the New York Times reported.
Special forces
Farrell had travelled to Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to investigate an air strike last Friday on two hijacked fuel tankers.
Dozens of civilians reportedly died when German commanders called in a US jet to bomb the tankers.
The newspaper’s website reported he phoned the foreign editor of the newspaper at about 0030 BST (2330 GMT) on Wednesday and said: “I’m out! I’m free.” Farrell said he also called his wife.
Some reports from Afghanistan suggest that British special forces were involved in the rescue, but the UK defence ministry declined to comment.
A spokeswoman told the BBC: “It was a Nato operation, we do not comment on special forces.”
In 2004 the journalist was kidnapped in the Iraqi city of Falluja while working for the London Times newspaper.
Farrell is the second New York Times journalist to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in a year.
In June, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Rohde and his Afghan colleague were abducted in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and moved across the border to Pakistan from where they escaped.