Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says that all five staff members abducted by an armed group in war-torn northern Syria in early January have now been released.

Known for sending doctors to conflict zones, MSF has not revealed the identity of those who were held but says that three were freed on April 4 and the remaining two on Wednesday.

All are physically well, according to the group which has given no details about the circumstances of their detention or release.

It says that for security reasons it has now had to close a hospital and two medical centres in the Jabal Akkrad area of Syria’s northwestern Latakia province, depriving some 150,000 people in the immediate area of its help.