A Swiss couple is free after being held hostage by Pakistani Taliban militants since last July.

A Pakistan army spokesman says the hostages told intelligence agents they had escaped. The spokesman said the military has taken them to Peshawar, where they are being questioned.

Military officials had said earlier the hostages were found on a main road near a military checkpoint in North Waziristan, in the tribal region where they had been held captive.

The Swiss embassy has declined to comment on the reports.

The Swiss tourists, identified in the media as Olivier David Och and Daniela Widmer, were abducted at gunpoint as they were traveling by car through the restive southwestern Baluchistan Province. The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility, demanding a Pakistani scientist jailed in the United States be released in exchange for the couple.