NBC News' Richard Engel Is Safe After Kidnapping

NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and members of his network production team were freed from captors in Syria after a firefight at a checkpoint on Monday, five days after they were taken prisoner, NBC News said early Tuesday.

“After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed. We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country,” the network said in a statement.

The captors were unidentified and were not believed to be loyal to the Assad regime.

.@richardengel recounts being kidnapped in Syria: "It was a traumatic experience. We’re very happy to be here." nbcnews.to/12mxzh1
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 18, 2012

Engel, 39, along with other employees the network did not identify, disappeared shortly after crossing into northwest Syria from Turkey on Thursday. The network had not been able to contact them until learning that they had been freed on Monday.

Engel, who is divorced and doesn't have children, was promoted to NBC News's chief foreign correspondent in 2008. He runs NBC’s Middle East bureau and has been reporting on the ongoing conflict between rebels and forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Reuters: The #Egyptian pound fell to its lowest level in eight years against the U.S. dollar Thursday
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) December 6, 2012

He last reported from inside Syria on December 11. He is also known as a regular Twitter user, his last Tweet was Dec 6, prior to being kidnapped.

The network said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing.

After entering Syria, Engel and his team were abducted, tossed into the back of a truck and blindfolded before being transported to an unknown location believed to be near the small town of Ma’arrat Misrin. During their captivity, they were blindfolded and bound, but otherwise not physically harmed, the network said.

Early Monday evening local time, the prisoners were being moved to a new location in a vehicle when their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by members of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group. There was a confrontation and a firefight ensued.  Two of the captors were killed, while an unknown number of others escaped, the network said.

The NBC News crew was unharmed in the incident. They remained in Syria until Tuesday morning when they made their way to the border and re-entered Turkey, the network said. They were to be evaluated and debriefed, but had communicated that everyone was in good health.

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Alex Weprin at TVNewser notes NBC’s chief competitors, including ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News all refrained from discussing Richard Engel‘s disappearance in Syria at the request of NBC.

While Engel’s disappearance may have been newsworthy, most major news organizations have had similar situations happen to their correspondents, and almost certainly would make the same request of NBC.