A British-Irish journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan four days ago has been freed in a rescue operation that claimed the life of his Afghan translator as well as a British soldier, the MoD has confirmed.

Stephen Farrell, who was in Afghanistan reporting for the New York Times, escaped his captors in a military raid at 4.45am local time.

Farrell and Munadi were covering an air raid in a village near Kunduz in the north where US jets, acting on German intelligence, struck fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban. They were investigating reports that at least 70 Afghan civilians had been killed in the attack.

The kidnapping had been kept quiet both by the New York Times and world media in an effort to ease negotiations with the Taliban captors.

"We feared that media attention would raise the temperature and increase the risk to the captives," said Bill Keller, the executive editor of the Times.

Mr Munadi, who worked for the Times as well as other news organizations, was studying for a Masters' degree in Germany where he lived with his wife and two young sons. He had returned to Afghanistan for a holiday when he agreed to accompany Farrell to Kunduz.

Keller added: "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."

Farrell is the second New York Times journalist to escape kidnap this year. His colleague David Rhodes spent seven months in captivity but escaped 11 weeks ago. Mr. Rhodes, who worked with Mr. Munadi in Afghanistan, called him "an extraordinary journalist, colleague and human being."

"He represented the best of Afghanistan," Mr. Rhodes said. "It was an honor to work with him."

Farrell is the third British hostage to have escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is one of 70 foreigners to be held captive since the beginning of the conflict in 2001.