The International Red Cross says five of its workers who were abducted for a week in western Afghanistan have been freed after negotiations with the local militia fighters who kidnapped them.
Afghan Red Cross spokesman Hedayat Kaiyana told RFE/RL on August 21 that no ransom was paid for their August 20 release in the southern Adraskan district of Herat Province.
A spokesman for provincial security forces, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, said Afghan police and tribal elders were involved in the talks that brought about their release.
The five included two Afghan drivers and three Afghan aid workers. All were said to be safe and in good health.
The group was giving away live sheep to impoverished Afghans in the rural district on August 14 when militia fighters seized the animals and kidnapped the aid workers.
With reporting by dpa and AFP
