Palestinian gunmen freed three foreign hostages early on Saturday after holding them for two hours in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian security officials said.

The three men, who were church volunteers from the United States, Britain and Ireland, were released unharmed after Palestinian police surrounded the place where they were being held in the Balata refugee camp, the officials said.

Five gunmen seized the foreigners around midnight as they were returning to the home where they were staying.

Their identities were not made known, nor was the reason for the abduction immediately given.

It was the latest in a series of kidnappings believed to be linked to political turmoil and infighting within the Palestinian Authority. Earlier this month a police chief and four French aid workers were briefly abducted in separate incidents and the hostages-takers had demanded anti-corruption reforms in President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group affiliated to Arafat's Fatah movement, denied involvement in the abductions and had pledged assistance to secure the three foreigners' safe release.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2004)