The Islamic State militant group has released 22 Assyrian Christians after intensive negotiations by the Assyrian Archbishop. The captives were among the 200 believers kidnapped from Tel Temir town of Hasakah province in northeastern Syria about six months ago. The released included 14 women and 8 men, most of whom were elderly, and suffering health problems. Denho Dawood, an Assyrian activist and cousin of a released hostage, told ARA News, "Most of them are in bad health conditions. However, they expressed their relief for being freed from the group's detention," Dawood said. A statement released by the office of the Assyrian Archbishop in Hasakah informed that they "were released after intensive efforts by the Assyrian Archbishop in cooperation with local mediators who assisted during the negotiations with the (IS) group." Assyrian Federation of Sweden published photographs of released hostages, mostly elderly women, weeping as they were greeted by a priest. Negotiations for the remaining 187 hostages is going on with the militants, who are demanding 100,000 US dollars per hostage. However, it is not disclosed yet if there was a demand for ransom from the militants for the 22 former captives. Last week, ISIS kidnapped about dozens to hundreds of Christians hostage in a separate siege in the town of al-Qaryatain in western Syria, according to numerous reports, though the exact number has differed depending on the report. As many as 15,000 more Assyrian families are in grave threat from the militant group amidst the ongoing sectarian strife in Syria. "My personal sources say there are about 15,000 families left in Syria. Of course, they do not live in the villages captured by militants, but were able to temporarily relocate to nearby towns," said Bishop Yatron Koliana of the Assyrian Church. He urged on the Western leaders to offer more help to the suffering Christians. "We very much hope that countries such as Russia and the United States will hear our call for help from their Christian brothers in the Middle East," the bishop said. About 10 percent of Syria's pre-war population -- about 23 million -- were Christians. Current statistics estimate about 30 thousand Assyrian Christians in the country, accounting for 2.5 percent of the 1.2 million Christian population remaining in Syria, according to Asia News. Most of the Assyrians lived in the Hassake province, which is in the middle of fierce battle for power between IS and other extremist groups opposed to Bashar Assad and IS.