US relieved as official freed in Pakistan

The United States voiced relief on Monday after an American official working for the United Nations was released unharmed in Pakistan following two months in captivity. John Solecki, the local head of the UN refugee agency, was freed on Sunday and was on his way back to the United States.
"Were obviously relieved, as is his family," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. "We look forward to speaking to Mr Solecki when he returns to the United States," he said. Solecki was snatched at gunpoint on February 2 in Quetta, the capital of the southern province of Balochistan. His driver was killed during the abduction. The case was an unwelcome reminder for violence-hit Pakistan of the 2002 abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was later murdered by Islamic extremists.