The Italian Foreign Ministry says that all of the Doctors Without Borders hostages in Sudan, including a P.E.I. woman, are now free.

The ministry did not give out details of their release, including whether a ransom was paid.

The three international aid workers were kidnapped Wednesday in the volatile Darfur region.

Earlier on Friday, the state governor of Northern Darfur said eight kidnappers demanded a ransom for the trio.

The aid workers were part of for the Belgian arm of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

MSF identified the three kidnapped aid workers as Laura Archer, a Canadian nurse, originally from P.E.I., now living in Montreal; Mauro D'Ascanio, an Italian doctor; as well as Raphael Meunier, a French field co-ordinator.

MSF says that it had heard from kidnappers and authorities that the kidnapped workers have been freed, but they have yet to speak with the workers.

The group says that family of the staff members have been notified.

Earlier on Friday, Osman Mohammed Yousif Kibir, the Northern Darfur state governor, said that the kidnappers reassured authorities they did not want to resort to violence.

In the wake of the abductions, the organization has since pulled all of its international staff members from its projects in Darfur. MSF has also pulled all Sudanese staff from these projects who are not local to the area.

Expulsion of aid workers

The kidnappings came only a week after the Khartoum-based Sudanese government kicked 13 aid groups -- including MSF -- out of the country. The groups were ordered to leave Darfur by March 5.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges and crimes against humanity in Darfur, the day before the Sudanese government expelled the international aid groups.

Payam Akhavan, a former war crimes prosecutor and professor of international law at McGill University, said there are several possible reasons why the aid workers were kidnapped.

"It's possible that it could simply be criminals in a very lawless, chaotic area holding foreigners hostage to get some ransom," he told CTV's Canada AM on Friday morning.

"But there is a very peculiar coincidence that the kidnapping comes just a week after President al-Bashir of Sudan expelled about half of all foreign aid workers from the Darfur region in retaliation for the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against him."

But Akhavan said no one can be sure that the kidnappings were designed to intimidate foreign aid workers.

With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press