Kabul - Afghan police have Monday arrested four of the
suspected kidnappers of the German woman Christina M, freed
overnight, according to the Interior Ministry in Kabul.
The four suspects, including the mastermind behind the abduction,
were captured during the sting operation to free the hostage,
according to interior ministry spokesman, Semarai Bashary.
Bashary told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Christina M was
freed in a joint operation by the ministry and the Afghan secret
service that involved 300 troops.
After the abduction, Kabul police cordoned off the district
where the woman was snatched and had the hiding place of the
kidnappers surrounded Sunday night.
'The kidnappers did not have a chance to escape,' said Bashary.
The abductors are believed to be a criminal gang and not
affiliated with the radical-Islamic Taliban. They had demanded the
release of 'innocent prisoners' in a videotape broadcast early Sunday
by the private Tolo news channel. Later it was revealed they had also
demanded a ransom of 1 million dollars.
The 31-year-old woman was abducted Saturday by four armed men as
she was leaving a restaurant in western Kabul in the presence of her
husband.
A spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin confirmed
the report of her release.
'She is in the safe custody of the German embassy in Kabul,' said
the spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Bashary said police had a breakthrough in the murder
of two German journalists last year with a suspect in custody for
another crime.
The two Deutsche Welle reporters were shot in October while they
were camping in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has seen a rash of kidnappings of foreigners since the
abduction of an Italian journalist in March led to the release of
five Taliban prisoners.
A German man was kidnapped on July 18 in the central province of
Maidan Wardak. Negotiations continue for the release of the engineer
and 19 South Korean Christian aid workers who were abducted in July.
Two ill hostages were killed earlier by the Taliban, and two South
Korean women were released last week.
Christina M is a staffer for Ora International, a Christian aid
organization that has operated in Afghanistan since 1991.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin extended
gratitude to the Afghan authorities with whom his government had
worked 'closely, faithfully and successfully' to safely gain the
German woman's freedom.
Steinmeier emphasized that the German Foreign Ministry is
continuing to seek the release of the German construction engineer
abducted last month, identified as Rudolf B.
The 62-year-old hostage was able to speak by telephone Sunday with
a reporter in Kabul from German broadcaster ARD, reporting that his
health was deteriorating. The abductee asked why a ransom had not
been paid for his quick release and called for the German embassy in
Kabul to act more strongly to gain his freedom.
The circumstanced under which Rudolf B was able to make the
telephone call were not known.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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