Islamic militants freed seven truck drivers from India, Kenya and Egypt held hostage in Iraq for six weeks, offering a ray of hope to a dozen other foreign nationals still in captivity.
Their release came a day after another militant group said it had slaughtered 12 Nepalis in the worst mass killing of captives in Iraq since a spate of kidnappings began in April.
France awaited word on the fate of two kidnapped French reporters after a deadline for Paris to scrap a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools apparently passed without incident.
A Kuwaiti firm which employed the truckers said they were on their way to the Gulf state. The kidnappers, a group calling itself the Black Banners Division of the Islamic Secret Army, had demanded KGL end its work in Iraq. The company complied.
The transport company also said it had paid a ransom of more than $500,000 to the militant group to secure the men's release.
Al Arabiya television showed the hostages after their release. The smiling men - three Indians, three Kenyans and one Egyptian - appeared in good health.
The captors apparently dropped other conditions they had made such as a demand KGL pay compensation to families who had suffered in US air strikes on the Iraqi city of Falluja.
Scores of nationals from more than two dozen countries have been kidnapped since April, when guerrillas embarked on new tactics to force foreign troops and firms to leave Iraq.
The strategy has heightened Iraq's image as one of the world's most dangerous countries and scared off investors.
About two dozen foreign hostages have been killed, some of them beheaded. The Nepalis were kidnapped last month when they entered Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners. French, Muslim and Arab leaders clung to hopes that diplomatic efforts would save the lives of the French reporters, Mr Georges Malbrunot and Mr Christian Chesnot. The kidnappings have stunned France, which opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and objected to pre-war sanctions.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier left Egypt for Qatar, the fourth leg of a Middle East rescue mission.
There was no fresh word from the kidnappers, a militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. It has demanded France revoke a law banning conspicuous religious symbols in state schools such as the Muslim headscarf. President Jacques Chirac has rejected the demands.
Mr Chesnot is a reporter for Radio France Internationale and Mr Malbrunot writes for the dailies Le Figaroand Ouest France. Pope John Paul condemned a wave of attacks around the world and appealed for the release of the Frenchmen. "I issue a pressing appeal for an end to violence ... and (appeal) that the two journalists are treated with humanity and released to their loved ones soon," he said.