Commandos free NY Times reporter in Afghan raid

BRITISH commandos freed a New York Times reporter in an early raid yesterday on a Taliban hide-out in northern Afghanistan. The journalist’s Afghan translator and one of the troops were killed in the rescue, officials said.

Reporter Stephen Farrell, who holds Irish and British citizenship, was taken hostage last Saturday along with his translator in the northern province of Kunduz when they went to cover a German-ordered airstrike of two hijacked fuel tankers. The bombing, carried out by US jets, caused a number of civilian casualties. One British service member died during the raid, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, while the Times reported that Farrell’s Afghan translator, Sultan Munadi, 34, also was killed. Brown said “we send his family our condolences”. Farrell was unhurt.

Gunfire rang out from multiple sides during the rescue, and a Taliban commander who was in the house was killed, along with the owner of the house and a woman, said Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor.