Kidnapped Chinese worker freed in Afghanistan

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese worker working for a Chinese road building firm was freed on Sunday after being kidnapped in the central Afghan province of Maidan Wardak last month, the Xinhua news agency said citing China's embassy in Kabul.

The man was kidnapped on June 29 while driving towards his company's camp near Maydanshahr, southwest of Kabul.

"Thanks to help from the Afghan government and local tribal elders and the rescue efforts of the Chinese government, the abducted man has been released sound and safe," Yang Houlan, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, told Xinhua.

Kidnappers freed the man unconditionally after nearly a month of negotiations, Yang was quoted as saying.

Xinhua did not give further details.

The Afgan driver had been released earlier.

Maidan Wardak was relatively free of violence until last year when the Taliban moved in from the south, capitalising on discontent in a province that has seen low levels of development despite being only about an hour's drive from Kabul.