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.

Three UN workers kidnapped three weeks ago in the Afghan capital remain out of reach, a government official said today, as fresh appeals were made for their release.

Three UN workers kidnapped in Afghanistan are in the hands of criminals, not the Taliban-linked militants who have threatened to kill them, an Afghan official said today.

The family of a UN worker held hostage in Afghanistan today pleaded for their daughter’s release as her captors debated whether to carry out a threat of execution.

Militants claiming to hold three United Nations hostages in Afghanistan, including Northern Irish woman Annetta Flanigan who is said to be “seriously ill”, said they would decide today whether to kill them.

Afghan militants claiming to hold three UN hostages, including Irish woman Annetta Flanigan, said talks on demands including the release of Taliban prisoners had broken down today.

THERE were fears last night Irish UN worker Annetta Flanigan and her fellow hostages may have been taken to separate locations as her captors seek to evade Afghan authorities.

THE second hostage drama involving an Irish citizen took a turn for the worse yesterday when the kidnap gang responsible issued a three-day deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

In the North, prayers have been said for Annetta Flanigan, the Armagh-born woman who is being held hostage in Afghanistan along with two other UN workers.

The UN election worker kidnapped in Afghanistan was named locally tonight as Annetta Flanigan, from Richhill, Co Armagh.