Alberta journalist Amanda Lindhout is reported to have made a brief escape from her captors less than two weeks ago, after being held captive in Somalia for the past five months.

A Somali journalist tells CTV News Lindhout and fellow Australian hostage Nigel Brennan were seen running from their captors into the safety of a nearby mosque, but they were re-captured minutes later after the gunmen caught up to them.

"Amanda and Nigel tried to escape the house which they were held hostage," said Daud Abdi Daud in a telephone interview Saturday.

Daud runs a Somali journalists group in Mogadishu and he says eyewitnesses saw both Lindhout and Brennan running away.

However, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders say the developments are mere rumour.

The Canadian government isn't commenting specifically, only saying they continue to seek further information about Lindhout's whereabouts and to assist the family in securing her safe release.

The reports come a month after Lindhout's captors lowered a $2.5 million ransom to $100,000 and released a Somali hostage.

That hostage spoke to CTV News following his release saying he didn't know where the rest of the hostages were being held.

In September, Arab television network Al Jazeera aired footage of the kidnapped reporters surrounded by armed militants.

The group claiming to be behind the video accused Canada and Australia of "taking part in the destruction of Somalia."

Foreign journalists and aid workers are at a high risk for being abducted for ransom in Somalia, an almost lawless country in the Horn of Africa. It does not have a stable central government and is mired in violence as rival clans fight for power and influence.

In August, Alberta freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped along with Australian freelance photographer Nigel Brennan as they travelled to a refugee camp in Elasha, which is about 18 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.

Lindhout, 27, had been working for French TV station France 24, and had previously reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout Africa.