A New York Times journalist, who holds Irish and British citizenship, has been freed after being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Stephen Farrell was abducted on Saturday along with his Afghan colleague Mohammad Sultan Munadi.
In an early morning raid, NATO forces managed to free Mr Farrell, but Mr Munadi was shot dead as he tried to run to safety.
A British soldier and at least two civilians were also killed.
Gunmen snatched Mr Farrell and Mr Munadi four days ago while they were reporting on the aftermath of a controversial NATO air strike on fuel tankers that killed scores of people.
They were the second New York Times team to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in less than a year. It was also the second time Mr Farrell has been abducted, having been captured near Fallujah in Iraq in 2004.
Until now, the latest kidnapping had been kept quiet by the New York Times and most major news organisations out of concern for the men's safety.
They were investigating reports of civilian deaths in the airstrike on two hijacked fuel tankers - Afghan officials said about 70 people died when US jets dropped two bombs on the tankers, igniting them in a massive explosion.
It is understood that both the British and Irish governments were in close contact during the kidnapping.
In a brief telephone call this morning Mr Farrell, 46, told The New York Times foreign editor: 'I'm out! I'm free!'
Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, said: 'We're overjoyed that Steve is free, but deeply saddened that his freedom came at such a cost. We are doing all we can to learn the details of what happened. Our hearts go out to Sultan's family.'
Mr Farrell said he and his captors heard helicopters approach before the dramatic rescue this morning.
'We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran, it was obviously a raid. We thought they would kill us.'
Mr Farrell said as he and Sultan Munadi ran outside, they heard voices. 'There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices.'
The Afghan governor in Kunduz, Mohammad Omar, said initially that it was a US military operation and that Sultan Munadi was killed by the Taliban during the raid, but Farrell told the paper he did not know who fired the fatal bullets.
Stephen Farrell is an experienced reporter who has worked for the New York Times since July 2007, largely in Iraq, and was formerly Middle East correspondent for The Times in London.
He runs the At War blog on The New York Times website.
