Kidnapped German freed in Kabul

Mrs Meier appeared in a video hours before her release

A German woman who was kidnapped at gunpoint from a restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul has been released.

Reports say Christina Meier was freed during a police raid on a house on the outskirts of the city, and a number of her suspected abductors were arrested.

Earlier, the aid worker was seen in a video released by her captors and broadcast on Afghan TV.

A German foreign ministry spokeswoman said the aid worker was now at the German diplomatic mission in Kabul.

An Afghan intelligence official told the BBC that at least two of her kidnappers have been arrested.

"One of them is a dangerous criminal who escaped from jail in northern Afghanistan about two months ago," he said.

The BBC's Charles Haviland, in Kabul, says the house that was raided on Sunday night had apparently been under observation since Saturday, the day Mrs Meier was abducted.

Bombings

Mrs Meier was the first foreigner to be abducted in the city for more than two years.

She works for a Christian organisation called Ora International.

Our correspondent says that although there have recently been several bomb attacks in Kabul, kidnappings are rare in the capital.

The last time a foreigner was abducted in the city was in 2005.

The victim, an Italian woman, was released after a few weeks by the kidnappers, said to have been a criminal gang.