Journalist details Afghan kidnap

Mellisa Fung describes her ordeal in an interview with CBC News

A Canadian journalist held hostage for 28 days in Afghanistan has given her first interview since she was freed.

Mellissa Fung, 35, said she was stabbed in the shoulder as she was seized at gunpoint while reporting from a Kabul refugee camp on 12 October.

She told her employers - the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - her captors were a criminal gang after a ransom.

The lead kidnapper - known to her as Khaled - told Ms Fung his father ran the operation from Pakistan, she said.

"Two guys with big guns came out of the car and grabbed me," Ms Fung said of her abduction.

"I think I hit one, and he stabbed me in the shoulder... Next thing I knew, I was inside the car on the floor."

Treated well

Ms Fung - who was on her second reporting stint in Afghanistan - told CBC she was kept blindfolded in a damp underground chamber south-west of Kabul.

She survived on biscuits and juice, she said, adding that although she was guarded at all times, she was treated well.

The reporter built up a rapport with Khaled, whom she described as about 19 years old, making him swear on the Koran several times that she would not be killed.

The Canadian and Afghan governments say no ransom was paid in exchange for Ms Fung's release, which was negotiated by Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security.

The abduction was not reported until Ms Fung's freedom was secured amid concerns for her safety.

Ms Fung was speaking to CBC's Anna Maria Tremonti at an undisclosed location.