Four kidnapped Red Cross workers released in Syria

Three of the six staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) abducted in Syria have been released along with a volunteer of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), an ICRC official said Monday.

"We confirm that the Syrian Red Crescent volunteer and three out of six ICRC colleagues have been released safe and sound," Robert Mardini, head of operations for the Middle East of ICRC, said in a tweet, Xinhua reported.

"We are still doing our utmost to have our three other colleagues back safe and sound," tweeted Yves Daccord, head of the ICRC directorate.

Six ICRC staff members and one SARC volunteer were abducted Sunday morning by unidentified armed men near Sareqeb in Syria's Idlib governorate.

The convoy, which was on its way back to the national capital Damascus, was clearly marked with the ICRC emblem, which is not a religious symbol, said the ICRC.