Activists say 19 captive Syrian Christians have been freed by Islamic State group

Palestinian women hold candles during a vigil held by a Palestinian group in solidarity with Christians abducted in Syria and Iraq, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon Sunday, March 1, 2015. The Islamic State group, which has repeatedly targeted religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, abducted more than 220 Assyrians this week in northeastern Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Palestinian children hold candles during a vigil held by a Palestinian group in solidarity with Christians abducted in Syria and Iraq, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon Sunday, March 1, 2015. The Islamic State group, which has repeatedly targeted religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, abducted more than 220 Assyrians in the past week in northeastern Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – An activist group and a local leader say the Islamic State group has released 19 Christians who were among the more than 220 people the militants took captive in northeastern Syria last week.

Bashir Saedi, a senior official in the Assyrian Democratic Organization, says the 16 men and three women arrived safely Sunday and were now at a church in the city of Hassakeh. He says they are all around 50 years of age or older.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group also reported that 19 Christians had been freed, but put the number at 17 men and two women.

The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.

It was not immediately clear why the Islamic State group released them.

The fate of the remaining Christian captives is unclear.