Seven members of the Red Cross have been kidnapped by gunmen in Syria today.

The six workers and one volunteer were travelling in a four-vehicle convoy in the north of the country when the attackers blocked their path and opened fire, according to Syria state media.

They had been delivering medical supplies in the Idlib province when the abduction took place near the town of Saraqeb, at around 11.30am local time.

The Syrian media reports blamed the attack on ‘terrorists’ – a term often used to describe the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad. The Idlib area has been largely under rebel control for the past year.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross today confirmed that the people had been kidnapped, but that they had not been contacted by anybody claiming responsibility. The organisation has called for their immediate release.

Officials say a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and three of six Red Cross staffers taken hostage in Syria are free and safe.

The Red Cross has not offered any information about the gender of nationality of the six employees who were captured.

However, a spokesman said that the team had been in the field since 10 October to assess the medical situation in the area and to look at how to provide medical aid in the province, which is said to be: ‘by definition is a difficult area to go in.’