A British hotelier said he had been detained over the kidnapping of three UN election workers - including Armagh woman Annetta Flanigan - in Afghanistan and claimed to have helped negotiate their release from Taliban-linked militants.

THREE UN workers, including Irish woman Annetta Flanigan, held hostage in Afghanistan for nearly four weeks were “abandoned” by their captors in Kabul, officials said yesterday.

The family of a Northern Irish UN worker who was held captive in Afghanistan for nearly four weeks said today they were “overjoyed” at the news of her release.

Three UN workers - including Armagh's Annetta Flanigan - who were kidnapped in Afghanistan have been released unharmed after nearly four weeks in captivity, officials said today.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad today and world leaders – including the war’s most prominent opponents – hailed the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Two Turkish engineers and an Afghan have been kidnapped outside Kabul, an official said today, bringing to five the number of workers who have been taken hostage in Afghanistan in the past three days.

By Amir ShahHUNDREDS of rival militiamen with tanks and artillery faced off along a narrow front line in northern Afghanistan yesterday, as the government scrambled to stop what it described as the worst fighting in months.

Suicide bombers are being trained to carry out attacks on foreign troops deployed in Afghanistan, the Interior Minister said today.

Afghan officials were today playing down a deadly shooting outside the American embassy in Kabul in which US Marines killed at least three Afghan troops.