Richard Engel Freed

NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his four-man team, who were held captive by an unknown militia group shortly after slipping into Syria on Thursday, have been freed unharmed following a firefight between their captors and a Syrian rebel group at a checkpoint.

"It's good to be here." Engel said.

Two of the captors have been killed and the remainder have escaped. There have been no claims of responsibility and no requests for ransom.

Engel said, however, that they endured "lots of psychological torture," including being subjected to mock executions.

NBC said on its website and in an emailed statement that the 39-year-old war correspondent and his team --NBC producer Ghazi Balkiz and cameraman John Kooistra -- were abducted, blindfolded and thrown into the back of a truck Thursday morning shortly after entering Syria.