Journalist's family wait for release confirmation

The family of British journalist Yvonne Ridley was today awaiting official confirmation that their daughter had been released by the Taliban after reports suggested she had been freed by her captors.

Sunday Express journalist Ms Ridley, 43, has spent the last 10 days detained and reports from Afghanistan today suggested she was heading to the Pakistani border to meet British Embassy officials.

Both her employers and the Foreign Office could not confirm the reports and said efforts were being made to establish what the situation was.

Reports claim Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, said the mother-of-one had been freed from Kabul at 12 noon local time.