Swiss Pair Escape Pakistani Taliban Capture

Pakistani Army officials say a Swiss couple who had been kidnapped in the southwestern Balochistan Province eight months ago have escaped their Taliban captors.

Officials say Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 29, appeared on March 15 at a military checkpoint and said they had escaped.

The couple were kidnapped in July and had been held by the Taliban in the North Waziristan region close to the Afghan border.

Pakistani Army spokesman General Athar Abbas said the two "are safe and sound," and had already been sent to Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban said it would free the couple in exchange for the release for a Pakistani scientist jailed in the United States.

With AFP and Reuters reporting