(Adds hostage quote, Merkel)

By Jon Hemming

KABUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Taliban rebels freed a German hostage in Afghanistan on Wednesday after more than two months in captivity, Germany's foreign minister said.

"The German citizen ... who was kidnapped in Afghanistan is once again free. We are happy and relieved," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement.

The German engineer, Rudolf Blechschmidt, later arrived at the German embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul, an embassy spokeswoman said.

"He has arrived at the embassy and he is being medically examined right now," the spokeswoman said. "He seems physically well, but of course he has lost a lot of weight."

Blechschmidt and five Afghans were seized with another German in Wardak province, just southwest of Kabul, in July. The Taliban kidnappers shot dead the other German soon afterwards after he suffered a heart attack.

The local Taliban leader behind the kidnap, Mullah Nizamuddin, handed the German and the five Afghan captives over to government authorities in exchange for the rebel chief's father and three supporters arrested after the incident, the private Afghan Pajhwok news agency said.

Blechschmidt told Germany's Spiegel Online he was happy to be free after such a long time.

"I am all right, I am just very tired," the Web site quoted him as saying.

The Taliban had demanded Germany withdraw its more than 3,000 troops from Afghanistan. Berlin refused to do so.

The six captives were kept in a darkened room with one blanket between them in a mountainous area of Wardak, according to an Afghan reporter who visited the men last week.

The rebels last month briefly kidnapped four employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who had travelled to accept the handover of the six men. The deal fell through.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was relieved at the release and she hoped Blechschmidt would quickly recover from his ordeal. (Additional reporting from Berlin bureau)

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