Chance raid by US soldiers frees British journalist

BRITISH journalist kidnapped in Iraq has been freed by chance after US soldiers raided the farmhouse where he was being held.

Phil Sands, a reporter for Dubai-based newspaper Emirates Today, was rescued after being held captive for five days last month on the outskirts of Baghdad.

“He was kidnapped on December 26, but was not reported missing and was found during an unrelated coalition military operation,” said a Foreign Office spokesman.

The 28-year-old journalist, from Dorset in England, was flown by US troops into Baghdad’s Green Zone and given a medical check up by British officials, before leaving Iraq.

In an article in Emirates Today, Sands recounted details of his abduction. He said he was not mistreated, but was forced to make a statement on video denouncing British prime minister Tony Blair and calling for foreign troops to leave Iraq.