Two bishops, who had been believed to be carrying out humanitarian work in Syria, were kidnapped by militants in a village in Aleppo Province

Two bishops, who had been believed to be carrying out humanitarian work in Syria, were kidnapped by militants in a village in Aleppo Province, according to Syrian state news agency.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Monday that two bishops from the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Churches, respectively, had been kidnapped at gunpoint in the village of Kafr Dael in Aleppo Province.

"An armed terrorist group kidnapped Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church [in Aleppo] and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox Church [in Aleppo] while they were on humanitarian operations in the village of Kafr Dael in Aleppo Province," SANA said.

Christian residents of Aleppo said that Ibrahim had driven in his car to the Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Turkish border to pick up Yaziji. The border crossing is under militant control.

The car was then intercepted on its way back to Aleppo by gunmen, who killed the driver and then kidnapped the two bishops, according to the Christian community members.

A Syriac politician, Abdulahad Steifo, said that the two bishops had been kidnapped on the road from Baba al-Hawa to Aleppo. When asked who had kidnapped the bishops, Steifo said: "all probabilities are open."