-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two international journalists , along with their Somali colleague and a driver , were kidnapped Saturday , a journalists ' organization in Somalia said . A young fighter mans a gun on the beach of Kismayo . The photographer asked not be identified . Amanda Lindhout , a Canadian journalist , and Nigel Brenan , an Australian photojournalist , had been in the country just three days when militia men snatched them outside the capital city of Mogadishu , the National Union of Somali Journalists said Sunday . The kidnappers also took Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi , a Somalian photojournalist who was acting as the pair 's translator , and their driver , the journalists ' union said . The four were on their way back after conducting interviews at a refugee camp . Officials do not know if the journalists are being held for ransom and who is behind the abductions . `` No formal claim of responsibility was made , '' the journalists ' group said . `` As well , there have been no demands . '' Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991 , when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting . Somalia 's current transitional government is trying to maintain control of the capital , with the help of Ethiopian forces . On Friday , fighters from the Islamic group Al Shabab took control of the southern port town of Kismayo after three days of clashes . The fighting left at least 89 people dead , 207 wounded and displaced some 5,500 people , triggering a humanitarian crisis . Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to install the transitional government in Mogadishu after a decade and a half of near-anarchy . The invasion had the blessing of the United States , which accused Islamists of harboring fugitives from the al Qaeda terrorist movement . But the Ethiopian troops quickly became embroiled in an insurgency led by the Islamists . And as guerrilla attacks mounted , efforts to replace the Ethiopians with an African Union-led peacekeeping mission faltered . The conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of Somalis , further worsening a humanitarian crisis that dates back to the collapse of the country 's last government in 1991 . The situation has been exacerbated by drought , continual armed conflicts in central and southern Somalia , and high inflation on food and fuel prices .