Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent at NBC News, and his production team have been released from Syrian captivity after they were taken prisoner in the country amid gunfire at a checkpoint five days ago, NBC News said Tuesday.

NBC could not get in contact with Engel, 39, and his team after they crossed into northwest Syria from Turkey on Dec. 13.

"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," NBC said in a statement.

The statement continued to not that Engel, 39, and his crew were abducted and forced into the back of a truck and blindfolded upon entering Syria. They were then transported to an unknown location.

No one was harmed while they were held captive.

"We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed," Engel said during a live appearance on "TODAY" from Turkey.

Engel said that they were traveling with Syrian rebels when a group of about 15 gunmen "jumped out of the trees and bushes" and captured them. He added that during their captivity, they were subject to mock executions while blindfolded and bound.

"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.

"[But] it is good to be here. I'm very happy that we're able to do this live shot this morning."

The correspondent noted that the captors' plan was to kidnap Engel and his team and use them in order to carry out an exchange to win the freedom of people held in captivity by the rebels. He also said the gunman "were talking openly about their loyalty to the government" of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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