Ultra-leftist rebels in Nepal have set free a British army official and his four Gurkha army colleagues yesterday, two days after they were abducted from a camp in a mountain village.All five men were reported to be unharmed.

　　It was earlier reported that there were two Britons kidnapped but officials confirmed yesterday that there was only one British man and that the rest were Nepalese who worked as British Gurkha soldiers.

　　The men were set free around midday and since then they have come in contact with the district headquarters, said Prem Narayan Sharma, chief of Baglung district.

　　They were kidnapped on Sunday night from Lekhali village, about 300 kilometers northwest of the capital Katmandu and close to a rebel stronghold.

　　They were left by the rebels at a school at Bihu village, near the areaswheresthey were first taken away.

　　Sharma said he expected them to reach the district headquarters by the evening. It is about three hours drive to the nearest airport at Pokhara from the district headquarters.

　　Hundreds of soldiers and police had been deployed in the area and were scouring the rough terrain on foot in a hunt to look for the abducted men.

　　It was the first time the rebels have abducted a foreigner since their insurgency began in 1996.

　　More than 7,500 people have been killed in the insurgency.The British officer was trekking in the area, recruiting young Nepalese men to work as Gurkha soldiers in the British army.The rebels are opposed to Nepalese men working for foreign armies and call them mercenaries.

　　The British Embassy in Katmandu also confirmed that the team of five British Gurkhas had come in contact but said they too were waiting for information.