'Ransom' motive behind German woman's kidnap: police

KABUL (AFP) - A criminal gang that kidnapped a German woman in the Afghan capital Kabul at the weekend was motivated by money, the interior ministry said Monday.

The woman, Christina Meier, was freed early Monday in a police raid on a compound where she had been held for 36 hours.

The gang had demanded a ransom of around one million US dollars, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told reporters in Kabul.

"The motive behind the kidnapping was mainly ransom. They had demanded a big sum -- about a million dollars," Bashary said.

"Initial investigations indicate that this group is a criminal gang and their main aim on this issue was to get money."

Four men, including the gang leader, were arrested and were being interrogated, he said.

Bashary said Meier, who works with the aid charity ORA International, was handed over to German embassy officials in Kabul and was in good health.

"She's fine, her health is okay. But it's very unfortunate that this happens to a woman. It's a shame," he said.

Afghan police surrounded the house in southwest Kabul where Meier was being held early Monday and forced her captors to surrender, officials said.

"We successfully rescued her," said police colonel Ghulam Rasoul, who took part in the operation.

"We located the house where she was kept. We surrounded the house and called on the kidnappers to surrender to police. They came out one by one and surrendered and then we freed the hostage. She's fine."

Meier, who appeared in a video released Sunday by her abductors, had been seized at gunpoint in broad daylight a day earlier at a Kabul restaurant. A taxi driver was killed in the crossfire between police and the kidnappers.

Her kidnapping had stoked fears of a drawn-out hostage crisis with one of her apparent captors, his face covered, using the video to demand the release of jailed Afghans for her freedom.