German woman abducted by jihadist Syrian rebels freed along with child born in captivity

A German woman and the child she reportedly gave birth to while being held hostage by jihadist fighters in Syria have been freed, the foreign ministry in Berlin has said.

The woman and child are in good health and are safely under the care of German consular officials in Turkey, said the ministry in a statement.

"The German citizen and her child are doing well, under the circumstances," a spokesperson for the foreign ministry told the German news agency DPA. The spokesperson added a unit of the federal government had "made considerable efforts to solve the case".

Embassy staff are helping the woman and child prepare to return to Germany.

German newspaper Bild identified the woman as Janina Findeisen, a freelance journalist who worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and state broadcaster NDR. According to reports the 27-year-old was kidnapped in October, 2015, by jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, and gave birth to a son in captivity in December.

Before travelling to Syria she was reportedly in contact with notorious German Islamist Sven Lau, who led 'Sharia patrols' in Germany.

The militants had reportedly demanded a €5m (£4.3m) ransom for her release. It is not the German government's policy to pay ransoms for hostages held by terrorist groups, and it is not known if any money exchanged hands.

German media did not widely report on the 2015 kidnapping at the request of government authorities.

In May, three Spanish journalists reportedly held captive by Al-Nusra in Syria for 10 months were freed, with Turkey and Qatar helping to secure their release.