Pakistan militants free kidnapped British film maker

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Asad Qureshi was working on a film about the Taliban in Pakistan for Channel 4 when he was abducted in the lawless Pasthun area of North Waziristan by a previously unknown group calling itself the Asian Tigers.

A High Commission spokesman said today: "We can confirm that Asad Qureshi has been released and our team are providing him with assistance."

According to reports today the negotiations for Mr Qureshi's release were handled by his relatives. He is believed to have arrived back in Islamabad.

Mr Qureshi was taken hostage on March 26 during an attempt to interview the Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. He was travelling with two former Pakistani secret intelligence service officials, both said to have extensive links with the militants that date back to the origins of the US-backed Mujahideen resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The abduction is said to have taken place after the militants became suspicious of one of the former SIS officers, Khalid Khawaja, who was believed to be linked to an earlier US drone strike on a Taliban leader. Khawaja was subsequently beheaded and his body was found at the end of April.

Some reports today said the other officer, US-trained Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, also known as Colonel Imam, and the man credited with helping to create the Taliban, was released with Mr Qureshi. Two weeks ago his family said they believed that he had been killed.

Mr Qureshi, who has made a number of trips to the tribal areas, is a British national of Pakistani descent. An experienced film-maker, he moved to Pakistan several years ago to work as a freelance.