Richard Engel, NBC Journalists Released in Syria Following Kidnapping, Firefight

Less than a week after being taken prisoner and engaging in a firefight at a checkpoint Monday, NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and members of his network production team have been freed, the Guardian reported.

"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.

"It is good to be here," Engel said during a live appearance on TODAY broadcast from Turkey. "I'm very happy that we're able to do this live shot this morning."

It's still unclear exactly who kidnapped Engel and his production team, the Christian Science Monitor notes, though, according to the journalist his captors "were talking openly about their loyalty to the government" of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Engel's group disappeared after they crossed into Syria from Turkey last week. The situation quickly grew distressing as there had been no communication with the network while the team was in captivity. No one called NBC requesting ransom or even claiming responsibility for the kidnapping.

"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," NBC 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 added.

According to Engel the group was physically unharmed, but his captors waged war on their minds.

"We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed," Engel said.

"They made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot Ghazi [Balkiz, an NBC producer] several times," Engel revealed.

Engel's groundbreaking coverage of wars, revolutions, and political upheavals around the world over the last 15 years has earned him a reputation as one of America's leading foreign correspondents. He was most recently recognized for his reporting on the 2011 revolution in Egypt, the conflict in Libya and unrest throughout the Arab world. Engel was named chief foreign correspondent of NBC News in April 2008. He joined the network in May 2003.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) dubbed Syria the deadliest place for journalists in 2012, according to the Monitor, and thinks this year will be the deadliest year yet for journalists, with 67 journalist deaths registered through mid-December alone.