Two Swiss citizens’ hostage ordeal in northwestern Pakistan ended early yesterday when their Taliban captors set them free, Pakistani security officials said.
Daniela Widmer (29) and Olivier Och (32) turned up at a military checkpoint at North Waziristan and were flown by helicopter to Peshawar, said army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas. He added that the two hostages claimed to have escaped from the Taliban.
It was unclear how the Swiss couple, who were abducted as they drove through western Baluchistan in July, obtained their freedom. Some signs aroused suspicion that the Pakistani or Swiss authorities had already agreed to the kidnappers’ demands.
In a video released last week, another Taliban hostage, Ajmal Khan, the head of a university in Peshawar, said the government had agreed to pay “millions of rupees” and free 100 prisoners in exchange for the Swiss hostages.– (New York Times)