DHAKA: Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun seized by gunmen in northern Cameroon in April have been freed.

Officials say, reports the BBC.

The ex-hostages are said to have boarded a plane to Yaounde on Sunday.

The three were kidnapped by gunmen from the building where they were staying in the district of Maroua in the early hours of 5 April.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion has fallen on militant Nigerian group Boko Haram.

Boko Haram Islamists kidnapped another priest as well as seven members of a French family in northern Cameroon last year.

Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed the release of Gianantonio Allegri and Giampaolo Marta from Italy and Canadian nun Gilberte Bussier in a statement on Sunday.

It thanked Canadian and Cameroon authorities but gave no details of how the abduction ended.

BDST: 1739 HRS, JUNE 01, 2014