BERLIN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Two German hostages who had been in captivity for three months have been released in Iraq, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday.

    Steinmeier made the announcement in the Chilean capital of Santiago during his visit to the country. The hostages, Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich, were expected to return home on Wednesday, German media reported.

    "After more than three months under inhuman conditions they were now secure in German custody in Iraq, and will return to Germany by tomorrow, according to current plans," Steinmeier was quoted by the German news agency DPA.

    Braeunlich and Nitzschke, who are all from the German city of Leipzig, were seized by Iraqi radicals on January 24 in Bayji, Iraq, on their way to work on a pollution control equipment at an oil refinery.

    The German foreign ministry had established a task force devoted to the release of the hostages shortly after they were kidnapped.

    The kidnappers, who claimed as Ansar al-Tawheed wal Sunna (Followers of Unity and Prophetic Tradition) had circulated a series of three videos during the men's period of captivity.

    They had asked for a ransom of three million U.S. dollars and demanded the release of all Iraqis held in U.S.-run prisons and told Germany to stop giving help to the U.S. and Iraqi authorities there.

    It was not clear whether ransom money had been paid.

    Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday evening, Reinhard Silberberg, a member of the Foreign Ministry task force, thanked those who had contributed to the men's release.

    He said that, as in the past, the government would not comment on the circumstances of their release.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had vowed not to give in to the captors, also expressed her happiness over the release.

    "I am very relieved and happy that the German hostages in Iraq have been freed," Merkel said.

    The DPA reported that another five foreigners are believed to be still in the hands of the captors. Enditem