Nato soldiers have rescued a kidnapped UK journalist from the Taliban in a dramatic pre-dawn helicopter mission in Afghanistan that left four others dead.
New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was freed unhurt. His Afghan colleague Sultan Munadi was killed along with a UK soldier and two Afghan civilians.
Mr Farrell, who holds British and Irish nationality, was "extracted" by "a lot of soldiers", the New York Times said.
The pair were seized in northern Kunduz province on Saturday.
They were investigating a Nato air strike on two hijacked fuel tankers that left many dead.
 |  There were bullets all around us, I could hear British and Afghan voices  Stephen Farrell  |
It is not the first time Mr Farrell has been abducted on assignment - in 2004 he was briefly kidnapped in Iraq while working for the London Times newspaper.
In remarks quoted on the New York Times website, Mr Farrell said the Taliban tried to flee as the helicopters descended.
"There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices," he said.
The reporter told his newspaper he ran outside with Mr Munadi, reportedly a 34-year-old father-of-two who worked as an interpreter with Mr Farrell.
He said Mr Munadi had shouted "Journalist! Journalist!" before he fell to the ground in a hail of bullets.
Mr Farrell said he did not know whether the shots had been fired by their rescuers or the militants.
Afghan police inspect the car from which Stephen Farrell and Sultan Munadi were kidnapped
The correspondent said he was called by British voices from a ditch where he had hidden, and as he emerged saw the body of Mr Munadi.
Journalists' anger
The head of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, Rahimullah Samandar, said the raid showed international forces did not care about Afghan reporters.
Mr Samandar said it was not the first time a kidnapped Afghan journalist had been killed while a Western colleague was freed.
Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, said the newspaper was "overjoyed" at Mr Farrell's release, but "deeply saddened it came at such a cost".
 Afghan journalists have condemned the translator's killing |
A local governor told the BBC two civilians also died in the raid.
A resident of Char Dara district in Kunduz province, Mohammad Nabi, reportedly said it was his home that was raided, and that his brother's wife was killed.
The Taliban had turned up there on Tuesday night with their two captives, demanding shelter, Mr Nabi told Reuters news agency.
He said helicopters swooped later and "then the soldiers blew open the door of my house, killing my sister-in-law, and took the reporter away with them".
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the soldier killed in the British-led operation had acted with "the greatest of courage".
He said his thoughts were with the family of the soldier and also with Mr Munadi's loved ones.
Mr Brown was also joined by the leaders of France and Germany on Wednesday in urging the UN to press ahead with plans for an international conference on Afghanistan's future later this year.
Mr Farrell and Mr Munadi were kidnapped in Kunduz province on Saturday while investigating the Nato air strike a day earlier when a German commander called in a US jet to bomb two hijacked fuel tankers.
Unconfirmed reports have suggested at least 70 civilians died.
The New York Times pair were reportedly interviewing villagers at the site of the burned-out trucks when gunfire rang out and a group of armed militants arrived.
Mr Farrell is the second New York Times journalist to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in a year.
In June, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Rohde and an Afghan colleague were abducted in Kabul and taken to Pakistan, where they escaped.
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