Negotiations were continuing last night for the release of the six British soldiers held hostage in Sierra Leone after five, mostly from the North and at least one from the Republic, were released.
The men were released on Wednesday night and although the British Ministry of Defence would not officially say where they were from, military sources confirmed that at least one of those released was from the Republic.
Eleven soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment and one local officer were taken hostage by a group calling itself the West Side Boys last Friday. Eight were from the North, two from the Republic and one from Liverpool.
Brig Gordon Hughes, commander of the British forces in Sierra Leone, said that although tired, the released men were all fit and well. Intensive efforts were continuing to try to secure the release of the remaining soldiers.
"We are in a pretty delicate stage at present and it would be inappropriate of me to start discussing or speculating why five have been released and the remainder are still behind," he said.
Uncertainty still surrounds the circumstances in which the soldiers were captured.
According to British officials, the troops were abducted while returning on the main road to the capital, Freetown, following meetings with Jordanian UN peacekeepers.
Some reports allege that they were actually on a long-range patrol, using a "liaison visit" to the Jordanians as a cover.
Earlier in the week, the commander of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Sierra Leone, Brig Gen Mohammed Garba, criticised the British troops, claiming they were travelling in a "no-go area" and accused the British army of running "Rambo-style" operations in the country.
Gen Garba insisted the soldiers were captured deep inside the militia-held jungle and denied they had even met Jordanian troops.
The British Armed Forces Minister sought to play down the disagreement with the UN over how the soldiers came to be captured and suggested that the UN was reacting to implied criticism, which did not exist.
"I'm not sure actually that there is a great degree of discrepancy on the main details . . . the real question that we are looking at now is what happened on the road back to Freetown," Mr John Spellar said.