Irish missionary, orphanage staff and 3-year-old are freed after Haiti kidnapping

(Reuters) -An Irish missionary, a group of orphanage workers and a three-year-old boy have been released after being kidnapped on the outskirts of Haiti's capital nearly a month ago, the orphanage said on Friday.

The kidnapping prompted worldwide appeals for the captives' safe release after a gang raided the orphanage in Kenscoff, a neighborhood overlooking Port-au-Prince that has been the site of many gang attacks this year.    

Irish missionary Gena Heraty led the special needs program at the orphanage, which is run by the NPH charity. The group did not identify the other victims of the kidnapping.

"We share with great relief and gratitude the news that Gena Heraty and those who were with her have been released, after being held against their will on August 3 in Kenscoff," NPH said in a post on Facebook. 

"Our hearts remain with the people of Haiti, as we continue to hope for safer and more peaceful days."

The charity shared a statement from Heraty's family, which thanked Ireland's foreign minister who had pushed for the group's release and others who helped secure their return.

"We are relieved beyond words," the statement said. "For now our priority is Gena - her health, protection, and privacy - and those in her care."

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said in a separate statement that the group was reported to be safe and well. 

"While we welcome this news, it is also important that we do not lose sight of the challenges facing the people of Haiti," he said.

Armed groups largely allied behind a coalition called Viv Ansanm have taken control of nearly all the capital and expanded to other regions, seizing key transit routes and extorting payments from residents.

Earlier this week, the United Nations estimated half of gang recruits were children, some of them forced into taking part in combat. A U.N.-backed mission mandated to help Haitian police wrest back control from gangs has so far made little headway.

More than 3,100 people were killed and 336 kidnapped for ransom in the first half of this year in Haiti, according to U.N. estimates. The number of people displaced by the extended conflict surged to around 1.3 million.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince, and Daina Beth Solomon and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Matthew Lewis)