BF2S Forums French hostage escapes from Somali kidnappers

He began plotting his escape a few weeks ago after noticing that his captors failed to lock both sides of the double doors to his room. "The other side was only locked from the inside," he said. "They made a mistake."

He said he crept over seven sleeping guards around midnight, wandered onto the vacant, windy streets and used stars for navigation to head toward government offices. He walked, rather than ran, to avoid arousing suspicion. Occasionally the quiet was pierced by nearby gunshots, but he said he never stopped to find out whether they were directed at him.

"You just never stop walking," he said.

He said he knew that he remained at risk, even after escaping. "Mogadishu is a kind of jail," he said.

"Even the youngest people will try to sell you."

Shortly before dawn he turned himself over, hands raised, to the surprised government soldiers.

The Islamist insurgent groups Shabab and Hizbul Islam are believed to be behind the kidnappings. According to government officials, the rival insurgent groups at one point fought each other over which one would hold the hostages. They eventually split custody, each taking one man, officials said.

Abduction of foreigners in Somalia, like piracy at sea, has become a major source of income for criminal gangs in the Horn of Africa country.

Four foreign aid workers and two Kenyan pilots kidnapped last year were released this month. Two journalists, a Canadian and an Australian, have been missing for a year.