Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter held captive by militants in Afghanistan, was freed in a military raid on Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter, a British commando and an Afghan woman were killed in the raid.

Taliban abducted Farrell and his interpreter, Sultan Munadi, on Saturday while they were reporting the aftermath of the NATO airstrikes near Kunduz on Friday.

In a brief telephone call at 7.30 pm New York time on Tuesday, Farrell told Susan Chira, the foreign editor of Times: “I’m out! I’m free!” Chira said Farrell told her that he had been “extracted” by a commando raid carried out by “a lot of soldiers”. He said Munadi was fatally shot.

Farrell, 46, joined the Times in July 2007 as a correspondent in the Baghdad bureau. He has covered the struggles of the Afghan and Iraqi people. He holds British and Irish citizenship.

Munadi, 34, had worked regularly with the Times and other news organisations and was planning to study for a master’s degree in Germany. He had hoped to work in public education to ease widespread illiteracy in Afghanistan.

Farrell told colleagues at the Times that he and Munadi were moved several times over their four days of captivity, and were finally moved into a tiny room. The men holding them talked freely on their cellphones, Farrell said.

On the third day, some new Taliban figures, more senior, arrived. Munadi told Farrell they discussed moving them from Kunduz. The atmosphere grew menacing, Farrell said. The captors taunted Munadi, reminding him of a case two years ago in which an Italian journalist taken hostage in Helmand was freed while his Afghan translator was beheaded.

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