UN peacekeepers kidnapped in Golan released

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a rebel Syrian group, have freed four UN peacekeepers that it had been holding captive for nearly a week after they were seized at an observation post in the Golan Heights, Aljazeera TV reported Sunday. "They have been released. They are now in the custody of the commander of the Philippine battalion in the Golan Heights," said the Philippine military's chief Brigadier General Domingo Tutaan said. The men were serving in the UN Disengagement Observer Force when they were captured near the town of Jamlah last Tuesday. The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade had claimed responisibility for seizing the peacekeepers to "secure and protect" them from shelling by Syrian government forces.