Islamabad - A separatist group, which has been holding a United Nations official for the last two months in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, freed its captive Saturday on "humanitarian grounds," local media and police said.

UN authorities in the capital city Islamabad, however, did not immediately confirm the release.

John Solecki, the regional head of the UN refugee agency in Balochistan, was kidnapped by armed men when he was on his way to work in the provincial capital Quetta on February 2. His Pakistani driver was killed in the attack.

The hitherto unknown rebel group, the Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), claimed it had Solecki in captivity and issued a list of demands, focusing on the release of Baloch people believed to have been detained by the law enforcement agencies.

"BLUF has released the kidnapped UN employee on humanitarian grounds," group spokesman Shehek Baloch told the Pakistani Online newswire by phone from an undisclosed location on Saturday.

"He has been released to give a message to the UN and the world community that Balochs are not terrorists, rather they are a civilized nation," Online quoted the BLUF spokesman as saying.

Baloch said Solecki, a US citizen, had been dropped off at the Mecca hotel in Khad Koocha area, near the town of Mastung, located some 50 kilometres south of Quetta.

"He (Solecki) is ill, but the health problems can be treated," according to Baloch.

A senior police official in Quetta, Wazir Khan Nasir, said Mr Solecki had been found. "He is with the police now," he added.

However, a UN spokesperson in Islamabad Jennifer Tagonis said she could not confirm the report about Solecki's release. "I have no further news," Tagonis told the German Press Agency dpa.

BLUF's last deadline for acceptance of demands - release of 1,109 men and 141 women - expired on March 18.

Though the government had announced that it was working on the demands, it was not immediately clear whether any Baloch prisoners were freed.

Balochistan's Chief Minister Aslam Raisani on Thursday had expressed optimism about Solecki's release. (dpa)