Pastor and his members kidnapped on live tv in Haiti released

Earlier this month, three individuals were kidnapped in Haiti during a live gospel streaming. The video of the incident got viral, and people around the world expressed shock at kidnapping incidents in the country. Officials stated that the three members who were kidnapped had been released. But seven other people, including a French nun and a French priest - abducted in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets remain in captivity.

The kidnappers had asked for $1m (£722,000) as payment after they seized the group on 11 April.

Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse has pledged to "do everything within the law " to secure their release.

"Three of the seven clergies captured on 11 April were published," Father Loudger Mazile, spokesman for the Bishop's Conference of the island nation, told the AFP on Thursday.

"The French were not published. There were no lay forms among those released," he said.

It is not known whether any ransom was paid to them or not.

The attack occurred when the Catholic clergy was on their way to installing a new parish priest.

A police source said that a gang is asking itself 400 Mazowo was most probably behind the abduction.

Kidnappings have grown in Haiti, with the Catholic Church calling the situation "a descent into hell".

While at first well-off salespeople were the main targets, victims have come from all walks of life. Religious groups have not been spared.

On 1 April, armed men and burst into a set at an orthodox church on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and seized the pastor and three other people. The service was also being live-streamed on social media at the time.

The four were also released three days later after an undisclosed sum was paid in ransom, but the brazenness of kidnapping a pastor in the middle of a service disturbed many Haitians.