Kabul  - A New York Times reporter taken captive by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan was freed in a raid by US forces, a district governor said Wednesday.

The troops conducted a raid Tuesday night on the house where the British national was being held in the Chardarah district of Kunduz province, Chardarah Governor Abdul Wahid Omarkhel said.

A clash ensued, in which two civilians were killed in the village of Mungtapa, he said.

The journalist was abducted Saturday while visiting the site of a deadly NATO airstrike on two Taliban-hijacked fuel trucks in Chardarah that Omarkhel said had killed 130 people on Friday. (dpa)