Mogadishu, (insidesomalia.org) - A Canadian reporter has survived an attempt kidnap attack on Thursday in Galkayo of Mudug region, central Somalia by freelance militias, says Puntland security forces official.

Colonel Hiif Ali Tour, a commander of Puntland Security forces speaking to Allpuntland.com, an influential Somali website, said that the Canadian reporter is safe and fine.

“We are on the footpath of the culprits behind this attack” said colonel Hiif.

The reporter’s name withheld by the authorities for security reasons is believed to work the Canadian Globe and Mail, says Abdifitah Jeyte, a local reporter in Boosaaso.

The Canadian reporter was attacked by the militias who fired at a hotel at Galkayo that she was in but her escorts repulsed the attack and she was safe, said the reporter.

This latest kidnap attempt coincides few days after on Sunday when a French reporter and a cameraman Gwen Le Gouil was kidnapped in Mareero, 34km from Boosaaso where he was planning to shoot a documentary on the mass smuggling of refugees from Somalia and other war-torn Horn of Africa countries across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.

The Militias apparently demanded a $80,000 as ransom, authorities and media watchdog said.

French embassy delegation had a meeting with Puntland authorities on Friday in Boosaaso and a committee was set up to negotiate with the abductors for the release of Le Gouil.

Le Guile is said that his abductors treated him humanely and he asked international Media watchdog organizations to do something for his release.

Somali kidnappers are known to treat their captives well, considering them assets on which they expect a return in the form of ransom.

Somali has been hostile environment to foreign journalists and aid workers , some of whom have been killed or kidnapped because of violence and lawlessness.

Press Emblem Campaign, a Swiss media defence group said in a report released on Monday that eight journalists were killed in Somalia this year alone, making it the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq.

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