THE father of captured journalist Yvonne Ridley last night told of his "dread" at the attack on Afghanistan with his daughter apparently about to come home.

The Foreign Office said it was still trying to confirm whether the reports that the Sunday Express reporter had been released were accurate.

Allan Ridley, of West Pelton, County Durham, said: "This is the news we have been dreading. We are very worried. We just feel fear, fear for her safety.

"We don't really know where she is - they said they took her to Kabul.

"The Taliban have just been playing for time all along and it has not got any easier for us. We will just have to see what tomorrow brings."

Earlier in the day, their hopes were raised when Taliban's Information Minister Qatradullah Jamal said: "Today she has been released. She is free."

But her mother, Joyce, said: "At this stage we don't know exactly what free means, I'll not believe it until she calls me and says she is coming home.

"It will be cruel if we reach this stage only for an attack on Afghanistan to begin."

Hours later, news that military action against the terrorists and the Taliban had begun was broken to Mr Ridley as he returned home from walking the dog.

The 43-year-old mother-of-one, a former journalist with The Northern Echo, was arrested on September 28 while trying to report on conditions in Afghanistan following the crisis over US demands to turn over terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

She was seized near the north-eastern city of Jalalabad with two Afghan guides before being transported to the Afghan capital Kabul, which last night was the target of military strikes.

Ms Ridley was held in solitary confinement in a house with a garden for her first seven days in captivity, before she was moved to a prison amid fears she would be tried for espionage.

She was locked up with eight Western aid workers, who have been held since August on charges of spreading Christianity.

It was thought, before news of the outbreak of hostilities, that she would make the six-hour drive to the Khyber Pass under armed guard before being handed over to Pakistani authorities today.

There has been intensive diplomacy by consular staff at the British High Commission in Pakistan and by Express Newspapers.

Ms Ridley was not carrying a passport when she entered Afghanistan, but the team bidding for her release provided documentation proving she was a journalist.

She has not seen by British consular officials because the UK Government has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban, but a lawyer acting for the aid workers said she was well.

Last night, the Foreign Office said it held the Taliban authorities responsible for Ms Ridley's safety.

A spokesman said: "At the moment there is no news about her release but we are continuing to make checks.

"In the meantime, we are making it clear that the Taliban have responsibility for her safety. They have the power to release her - she is in their hands."