Five aid workers freed in Afghan raid

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan - Following intense operation launched Friday night, the Afghan police set free all the five aid workers kidnapped including two foreigners and three Afghans from the clutch of the kidnappers in Badakhshan province 315 km northeast of capital Kabul, spokesman for provincial administration Abdul Marouf Rasikh said Saturday.

"In the operation launched in Shahr-e-Bazarg district last night and lasted for a while, five kidnappers had been killed and all the five kidnapped including two foreigners and three Afghans were set free," Marouf told Xinhua.

All the five former hostages are safe and sound and will be flown to capital Kabul within hours, he said.

However, he did not disclose the nationalities of the foreigners, saying they were aid workers.

Unknown armed men abducted two foreign nationals and their three local colleagues in Badakhshan province last week.

Marouf added that the operation would continue until all those involved in the kidnapping would be killed or captured.