Four of the seven hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped in Syria have been freed.
A Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and three of the six Red Cross staff are now safe, head of Middle East operations Robert Mardini said.
Gunmen abducted the seven on Sunday after stopping their convoy in north-western Syria.
It happened in Idlib province, where kidnappings are rife. The province has fallen into the hands of rebels over the past year, and the captives are typically aid workers and foreign journalists.
Idlib was also hit yesterday by a car bomb which killed at least 12 people in the rebel-held town of Darkoush.
Car bombs are becoming more common in Syria’s civil war, now in its third year. The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people.
Syria’s state news agency said the hostage-taking was the work of “terrorists,” a term the government uses to refer to opponents of president Bashar Assad.
The gunmen opened fire on the ICRC team’s four vehicles before seizing the workers.
They had been in the area since October 10 to assess the medical situation.
Meanwhile, the head of the body tasked with destroying Syria’s chemical weapons says fighting is preventing access to sites through some rebel-held areas.
Ahmet Uzumcu, of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, called for short-term ceasefires to allow experts to work.
Syria officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention on Monday.
The OPCW and the UN have had a team of 60 experts and support staff in Syria since October 1. They are based in Damascus and have been carrying out regular visits to facilities.