BEIJING - Seven Chinese men kidnapped by gunmen in Iraq have been released in good spirits and some of them want to forge ahead with plans to open a construction business despite their ordeal.

The announcement that the men were released and turned over to Chinese diplomats came hours before the arrival in Beijing of US Vice President Dick Cheney, removing a potentially thorny issue during a visit expected to focus on Iraq.

The men were captured last Sunday in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, after entering Iraq from Jordan and were released late Monday to an Iraqi religious group, the Foreign Ministry said. They were then passed on to diplomats.

"Their health and spirits are good," the brief Foreign Ministry statement said.

The men went to Iraq on their own to start a construction materials business - a venture some of them were still "determined to open" despite their harrowing experience, the Xinhua News Agency said.

After their release, the men were staying with the Chinese owner of a Baghdad restaurant.

China had appealed to Iraqi authorities to find and rescue the men and warned other Chinese to avoid Iraq.

Two of the men were injured in a car accident before their capture and needed medical care, Xinhua said. The others were said to be in good condition.

The men ran off the road as they tried to bypass Fallujah, the scene of fighting between US forces and Iraqi insurgents, Xinhua said, quoting one of the men, Xue Yougui, 29. The Chinese were then "taken away by local fighters".

The gunmen turned over the hostages to the Association of Islamic Clerics following its appeal for the release of civilian hostages, Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the group as saying.

The armed men "did not abduct them just for kidnapping but because the region was a battlefield and they should investigate any suspects," said the spokesman, Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi.

Some of the hostages said they were "treated kindly" and provided with food and medical aid by their captors.

Middle East TV broadcaster Al-Jazeera showed the Chinese hostages and a Chinese Embassy official thanking the religious group for securing their release. Al-Jazeera said a letter sent with the group identified the kidnappers as "Abou Obeida al-Jarah Brigade."

"The (kidnappers) have came across not as terrorists, and not as followers of such or such regime, but as the sons of Iraq, who are defending their popular resistance in Fallujah," al-Kubaisi said.

Iraqi gunmen have also abducted other foreign nationals, including three Japanese civilians seized by a group threatening to burn them alive if Japan does not withdraw its non-combat troops from Iraq. Sunday's deadline came and went with no word on their fate.

China hasn't contributed any troops to the US-led military force.

Before the US-led attack that ousted Saddam Hussein, China had called for a "political solution" instead of war. Beijing, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has advocated sending a UN team back to Iraq to help restore stability.

The abducted men reportedly came from East China's coastal province of Fujian, which has a centuries-long history of people going abroad to work.

In addition to Xue, Xinhua identified the men in the abducted party as Lin Jingbing, Lin Kongming, Li Guiwu, Li Guiping, Wei Weilong and Chen Xiaojin.

The 10 Chinese companies operating in Iraq have reportedly told their approximately 40 Chinese employees to reduce non-business activities and have hired Iraqi security guards.

(Agencies via Xinhua)