Somali gunmen seize 2 from Mogadishu hotel; may be French

(CNN) - A group of gunmen stormed into a Mogadishu hotel frequented by foreigners Tuesday and seized two people, believed to be French, according to eyewitnesses.

There was no immediate comment on the incident from the French government.

Somali government officials confirmed that about 10 gunmen forced their way into the Sahafi hotel in the Somali capital, but had no details on the reported kidnapping.

Witnesses said the gunmen took the two blindfolded and bound hostages on foot towards Mogadishu's Bakara market, a stronghold for Islamist insurgents fighting against the Somali government.

Witnesses said the two were either French journalists or diplomats.

Somalia is one of the deadliest nations in the world for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Members of the news media work under duress there amid a war between a weak transitional government and insurgents, the committee said.

Journalists Amanda Lindhout of Canada and Nigel Brennan of Australia were abducted outside Mogadishu in August along with their Somali photographer and two Somali drivers. The three Somalis were released in January, but the fate of the two journalists is unclear.

Lindhout was working on a freelance project for a French television station at the time, according to a blog calling for her release.

Very few international journalists operate in war-wracked Somalia, where fighting concentrated in the capital city has displaced 200,000 Mogadishu residents since early May, according to the United Nations.

Somali journalists have also been the targets of the Islamist insurgency that is trying to overthrow the government, which is led by Al-Shabaab - an al Qaeda-linked group that is on the United States' terror list. At least five Somali journalists have been killed this year alone.

^–Journalist Mohamed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.