ISLAMABAD ( AP) — A Swiss couple held captive for nearly a year by the Taliban in Pakistan turned up at an army post close to the Afghan border on Thursday, claiming to have escaped from their captors, the Pakistani army said. They were swiftly flown to safety by the military.
Taliban commanders said a ransom was paid in exchange for the release of the man and woman.
David Och and Daniela Widmer, smiling and looking healthy, briefly waved for waiting cameras at a military airbase close to the Pakistani capital before getting into a van.
The couple, who were apparently on holiday in the country, were seized in July in the southwest province of Baluchistan.
They appeared in a militant video in October, saying their captors were threatening to kill them.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the couple showed up at an army post in Miran Shah in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold. He said the couple was then flown to Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan, on an army helicopter.
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