A US Air Force officer who went missing for three days in Kyrgyzstan was being flown to Germany yesterday after apparently telling police that a bomb had been attached to her body during a kidnap.
Major Jill Metzger disappeared while shopping for souvenirs at a department store in the capital, Bishkek. Omurbek Suvanaliyev, the Deputy Interior Minister, said that she was found on Friday after knocking on the door of a house in the town of Kant, about 22 miles (36 km) away.
Major Metzger, 33, told Kyrgyz police that someone had put an object in the back pocket of her jeans with a note saying that it was a bomb. She described acting as if in a trance, and followed instructions telling her where to go. She was met by three men and a woman, who drove her off in a minibus.
Major Metzger, whose blonde hair had been cut and dyed brown, said she hit one of her kidnappers and escaped.