MOGADISHU: Two freelance journalists kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008 were freed on Wednesday, and are in a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, a Somali member of parliament and hotel sources said.

"We have now brought both foreign journalists to the Sahafi hotel. We have been working for eight days on their release, but finally succeeded," MP Ahmed Diiriye said. "I don't want to comment on how we released them now."

Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, and Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist, were kidnapped in Mogadishu in August 2008.