An organization that fights for press freedom says it has received word that a Canadian freelance journalist kidnapped in Somalia has not been harmed.

Dennis Trudeau, spokesman for Reporters Without Borders, said from Montreal that the organization was told Tuesday by the National Union of Somali Journalists that Amanda Lindhout, 27, from Sylvan Lake, Alta., is not being mistreated by her captors.

Lindhout was abducted at gunpoint with Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan, 35, outside Mogadishu on Saturday.

"The journalists have not been harmed," Trudeau said. "They are clothed, they're being fed and they may even have access to satellite TV."

Trudeau said the journalists are being held about 80 kilometres north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

"But obviously, you know, for reasons of security and whatever, we can't tell you exactly where they might be."

Trudeau said earlier news reports suggested that the journalists' guards were also abducted, but he said that is not the case according to Somali journalists' union.

Islamist insurgents didn't take pair: spokesman

Islamist insurgents in Somalia said they are not responsible for the kidnapping, according to a news report published in the Australian.

Sheik Abdirahim Isse Adow, a spokesman for Somalia's Islamist insurgents, told the newspaper that the kidnapping may have been carried out by a fringe group.

"We don't know who kidnapped them. There is a [rebel] group which kidnaps for ransom, separate from rivals who have political objectives," Adow is quoted as saying in an interview published Tuesday.

According to the report, Adow said his group is investigating and is willing to help to secure the release of the two journalists.

"We shall do all that is possible to save them," he told the Australian.

The Somali government confirmed the kidnapping on Sunday. Foreign Affairs in Canada has not yet confirmed the incident.

Foreign Affairs said on the weekend that the Canadian high commission in Kenya is aware of news reports that indicate that the two journalists are missing.

The department said consular officials are in contact with local authorities to try to confirm the reports.