UK reporter freed in Afghanistan

**A British journalist who was kidnapped in Afghanistan has been freed by Nato troops in a raid before dawn, an Afghan official has said.**New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell had been abducted on Saturday.

He was taken along with his Afghan interpreter while attempting to visit the scene of a Nato air strike.

The New York Times reported Mr Farrell said he had been “extracted” in a raid by “a lot of soldiers” after a fierce firefight with his Taliban captors.

The newspaper’s website reported he had phoned the foreign editor of the newspaper at about 0030 BST and said: “I’m out! I’m free.”

Mr Farrell said he had also called his wife.

In 2004, Mr Farrell was kidnapped in Iraq while working for the UK’s Times newspaper.