PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A British journalist detained by the Taliban militia after sneaking into Afghanistan (news - web sites) was released Monday and handed over at the border with Pakistan, border authorities said.
Yvonne Ridley's release, after 10 days in detention, came as explosions shook the Afghan capital Kabul in a second night of U.S.-British attacks.
Ridley, 43, a reporter for the Daily Express of London, crossed into Pakistan on Monday night at the Torkhum border crossing, at the foot of the Khyber Pass, said Mohammed Zaibullah, a tribal official. The border area is governed by Pakistani tribal elders.
Ridley was accompanied to the Afghan side of the border by Taliban militia escorts and was met there by Pakistani authorities. There were no British officials awaiting her at the crossing, Zaibullah said.
Ridley left the border with an armed Pakistani escort and was headed late Monday for Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, officials said.
Ridley was apprehended near Jalalabad in northeastern Afghanistan on Sept. 28 after two days inside the country. Two male Afghan guides were detained with her; there was no immediate indication of their fate.
Ridley's employers said she had been trying to report on conditions in Afghanistan during the current crisis. The Taliban ordered all foreign reporters to leave the country days after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
On Monday, hours before the release, Ridley's mother, Joyce Ridley, condemned the timing of the U.S.-British attacks, saying they were jeopardizing her daughter's safety.
``The British government said she was coming home. Why then could they not delay the bombing for a few hours? I just cannot accept that.''
Taliban authorities had said Ridley would be deported if officials confirmed she was a journalist and not a spy.
``This lady came illegally to Afghanistan. She had no passport. She entered illegally wearing Afghan dress,'' Taliban Information Minister Qatradullah Jamal said. He said Taliban intelligence had arrested her with local cooperation.