Militants claim Kabul hostages safe for now

A militant group which says it kidnapped the Irish UN worker Annetta Flanigan and two of her colleagues in Afghanistan insists she and two other hostages are safe for the time being.

The breakaway Taliban faction has handed over ID cards from the captives which are now being checked by the authorities.

Forty-three-year-old Annetta Flanagan, from Richill in Co Armagh, who holds joint Irish and British citizenship, was taken hostage in Kabul on Thursday, along with a woman from Kosovo and a Philippino diplomat.

Seven people are being questioned about the abductions.