"I am absolutely delighted and it is a great joy to her family now that she is free," Powell told reporters here after talks with Turkish leaders.

"It also tested the skill of our soldiers and being able to get to her and to release her. I am very pleased of course," he added.

The US army announced earlier Wednesday that troops had snatched the 19-year-old Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi-held hospital in the southern town of Nasiriyah after being held for more than a week.

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