Abducted Australian aid worker freed in Afghanistan

KABUL: Afghan special forces have rescued a kidnapped Australian aid worker, officials said on Monday, four months after she was taken at gunpoint in the country’s volatile east.

Katherine Jane Wilson, said to be aged around 60, is "safe and well", Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said, without disclosing when she was released or who was behind her abduction.

Unidentified masked gunmen kidnapped Wilson from Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, in late April when she was visiting the city for a women’s embroidery project.

"I confirm that Kerry Jane Wilson, who was abducted in Afghanistan in April this year, has been released, and she is now safe and well," Bishop said in a statement, without saying whether she is still in Afghanistan.

The minister, who has previously said Australia does not pay ransom for kidnappers, voiced relief for Wilson and her family but would not provide details of how she was freed.

Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, said Wilson was released in a "special operation", without offering details.

"As a result of our efforts, she has been safely released. Several suspects have been detained and our investigation is still going on," NDS said in a brief statement.

Wilson, a well-known aid worker in the country, ran a non-governmental organisation known as Zardozi, which promotes the work of Afghan artisans -- particularly women.

Following her abduction an Australian man was seized, along with an American colleague, in Kabul by gunmen wearing police uniforms.