South African police have rescued a kidnapped American pastor "miraculously unharmed" following a deadly shootout, authorities said on Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An American pastor who was kidnapped last week by armed and masked men during a sermon in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa was rescued on Tuesday after three of his abductors engaged in gunfire with officials and were killed, police said Wednesday.

Josh Sullivan, a U.S. pastor kidnapped at gunpoint while delivering a sermon in his church in South Africa Thursday evening has been rescued in a shootout that left three suspects dead, authorities say.