PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: An American missionary who had been kidnapped outside the Haitian capital was released unharmed Friday, a U.N. police official said.

Gunmen had abducted Nathan Jean-Dieudonne, 58, on Sunday while he was driving home from his church in Croix-des-Bouquets, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.

Fred Blaise, a U.N. police spokesman, said Jean-Dieudonne was released unharmed before dawn. It was not immediately clear if a ransom was paid.

The FBI sent hostage negotiators to Haiti this week to help secure the release of Jean-Dieudonne, a U.S. citizen of Haitian descent. A U.N. anti-kidnapping squad and Haitian police were also working to free him.

Kidnappings for ransom surged in Haiti in the chaotic aftermath of a 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Most of the crimes are blamed on streets gangs based in the capital's sprawling slums, but corrupt police have also been implicated.

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Kidnappers have increasingly targeted foreign missionaries, many of whom travel with little security and work in poorer areas where police presence is thin.

U.N. troops and Haitian police have stepped up patrols in the capital, prompting kidnappers to look for victims in outlying suburbs.