The two men "were freed this afternoon and came by taxi to our headquarters," the ICRC spokesman here, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, told AFP.

The MSF members had been held at the massive Abu Gharib prison in Baghdad's northern suburbs and were transferred between jails twice due to the US-led bombing campaign.

But authority broke down around the jail following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime here Wednesday.

MSF identified the two as Francois Calas, 43, the French head of a six-strong team that had been working in Baghdad for several weeks, and Ibrahim Yunis, 31, a logistical support worker from Sudan.

The organization announced last week it had suspended its activities in Iraq after the two went missing on April 2.

The men, who telephoned their MSF home base in Paris on Friday, were left "weakened by their long week in captivity, but are doing well", the organisation said in a statement issued in the French capital.

"They are going to rejoin the four other members of the team" in the Iraqi capital, it said.

SPACE.WIRE