dpa/Stockholm
Two Swedish men thought to have been held hostage by a jihadist group in Syria for at least a year have been freed with the help of Jordanian and Palestinian authorities, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
One of the men, Thomas Olsson, told Swedish news agency TT they were "well, according to the circumstances" and thanked all those involved in securing their release.
Olsson, 50, declined to comment on a report in tabloid Aftonbladet that he and Martin Reen, 33, had been in Syria to do missionary work.
The Palestinian ambassador to Sweden, Hala Husni Fariz Odeh, said the two had been held by the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, at a location near the Jordanian border.
"They were handed over at the Syrian-Jordanian front," she told Swedish television, adding that the release took place Friday.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry and police declined to comment on reports that the two had been kidnapped in late 2013, with one official telling dpa that the two men had been held "for a longer period."
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom expressed "special thanks to Palestine, and to President [Mahmoud] Abbas personally, whose involvement has been crucial, and to the Jordanian authorities."
