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Taliban Releases Detained British Journalist
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 8 (News Agencies) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban released detained British journalist Yvonne Ridley Monday and handed her over to Pakistani authorities at the border, a senior Pakistani frontier official said.
The release followed overnight U.S.-led military strikes on Taliban targets in Afghanistan, which had triggered concerns that the Islamic militia's earlier promise to release Ridley might be compromised.
"She was handed over to the authorities around 7:30 pm [1430 GMT] at the Torkham border crossing and is now on her way to Peshawar," border official Zaibullah told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
British Prime Minister Tony Blair later confirmed: "I can report that Yvonne Ridley has been handed over to Pakistani officials with whom we have been liaising closely since her detention."
"She has been met by consular staff of the High Commission. She'll be taken to Islamabad this evening. There'll be accommodation with the High Commission," he added.
A British embassy spokeswoman said consular officials were meeting Ridley in Peshawar but she had no information as to the journalist's condition.
Pakistani officials said Ridley had already left Peshawar and was on her way to Islamabad.
Ridley, 43, was arrested on September 28th while trying to report on conditions in Afghanistan following the crisis over U.S. demands to turn over Osama bin Laden.
There were no details about the fate of two Afghan guides arrested with the Sunday Express reporter.
The deputy chief of protocol at the Taliban foreign ministry handed over Ridley at Torkham, Zaibullah said.
A few days after her arrest, the Taliban had said Ridley would be placed on trial and was being investigated on possible spying charges.
Her release on Monday came less than two hours before the United States and Britain launched air attacks on Taliban targets in Afghanistan for a second consecutive night.
Ridley's family back in Britain, who feared the Taliban might respond by delaying her release, had greeted the first wave of attacks on Sunday night with dismay.
"This is the news we have been dreading," Ridley's father, Allan Ridley, had said Sunday.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had sympathized with the family's plight.
"I feel terribly for the family. They've been on a kind of roller-coaster of hope and emotion," he said.
Ridley was sent to the region by her employers, the Sunday Express, after the September 11th attacks on Washington and New York, suspected to have been masterminded by bin Laden, the Saudi-born dissident holed up in Afghanistan.
Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend said Ridley had intended to cross the Afghan border to report on the refugee crisis within the country as it awaited the riposte for the terror attacks that left at least 5,000 people dead or missing.
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