A Canadian nurse and two other aid workers with Doctors Without Borders who were kidnapped in Darfur have been released, a government official said Saturday.

Montreal nurse Laura Archer, front, in an undated handout photo taken in Sudan. (Doctors Without Borders/Canadian Press)

The development comes three days after gunmen seized the workers from their office in Saraf Umra, about 200 kilometres west of the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

The hostages included Laura Archer, who was born in Charlottetown but last lived in Montreal. She was abducted Wednesday evening, along with Italian doctor Maurio D'Ascanio and French field worker Raphael Meonier.

Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol at Sudan's Foreign Ministry, said the three were freed around noon local time and were doing "all right."

He said at least one Sudanese employee of Doctors Without Borders who was also abducted was freed earlier, but provided no further details.

After their release, the aid workers arrived in El Fasher aboard a government helicopter and appeared to be in good health, freelance journalist Melodie Proust told CBC News.

She said Ahmed told her the former hostages were to be transferred to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, sometime Saturday night.

"The governor of North Darfur said he played a key role in securing their release," Proust said.

The kidnappings further ignited fears about a backlash against foreigners in Sudan after an international court issued an arrest warrant this month against Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur.

Sudanese officials have said the International Criminal Court's decision encouraged lawlessness and warned that "unruly" elements might react angrily.

Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister said the kidnappers had asked for a ransom and were demanding that the tribunal's indictment against President Omar al-Bashir be thrown out.

However, Gov. Osman Kebir said no ransom was paid to the group, which he said called itself the Eagles of al-Bashir.

"They said they released them for the country's sake and they kidnapped them for the sake of the country," Kebir said.

Sudan shut down 16 aid organizations after the ICC decision, accusing them of helping the international court in The Hague to build a case against al-Bashir. Aid groups deny the charge.

Doctors Without Borders said it was withdrawing all international staff and Sudanese staff who are not from Darfur from projects in the region in the wake of the abductions.

With files from the Associated Press