( CNN ) -- Somalia 's interim prime minister said Thursday that he has spoken to one of two French hostages seized earlier this week by gunmen who stormed their hotel in Mogadishu . Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said the government will hold Hizbul Islam responsible for the safety of both men . Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told a news conference at the presidential palace in the Somali capital that the hostage said he was in good health and is being treated well . Sharmarke said three low-level security officials have been arrested for their involvement in the kidnapping . The Somali government is negotiating the release of the hostages , who are being held by Islamist militants , he added . The two French nationals -- who have not been identified -- were abducted Tuesday when a group of about 10 armed men raided the hotel where they were staying . The French Foreign Ministry said the two were on an official mission to help the Somali government with security . The ministry has not divulged any details of its efforts to release the hostages , saying only that it is `` mobilized . '' The two advisers had apparently told the hotel they were journalists , something that the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders has criticized . `` We hope these two advisers are freed quickly , but we are shocked that they were passing themselves off as journalists , '' Reporters Without Borders said . `` They were on an official mission and had no need of cover . Their behavior endangers journalists in a region where media personnel are already in danger . '' Sharmarke said the two hostages were kidnapped by the militant group Hizbul Islam but later were transferred to Al-Shabaab . Both Islamic insurgencies are trying to topple the current Somali government . Eyewitnesses said a group of gunmen stormed into the Sahafi hotel , which is frequented by foreigners , and took the two blindfolded and bound hostages on foot toward Mogadishu 's Bakara market , a stronghold for Islamist insurgents fighting against the Somali government . The Somali prime minister said that the government will hold Hizbul Islam responsible for the safety of both men . He did not say if any demands had been made for the hostages ' release . Hizbul Islam is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys , a bitter rival of Somalia 's transitional president , Sheikh Sharif Ahmed . The two men once shared leadership of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia , which opposed the presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia . The alliance split because the two leaders disagreed over whether to use force to oust the Ethiopian forces . Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab have continued their fight in Somalia despite the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces earlier this year . The United Nations had hoped that the withdrawal of the Ethiopians and the election of Ahmed -- an Islamist -- to the post of transitional president would help quell the insurgency in Somalia . The Islamist insurgency is led by Al-Shabaab -- an al Qaeda-linked group that is on the United States ' terror list . It wants to overthrow Somalia 's weak , transitional government and implement a radical version of sharia , or Islamic law . Fighting in Somalia 's capital city has displaced 200,000 Mogadishu residents since early May , according to the United Nations . Journalist Mohamed Amin Adow contributed to this report .
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke reported hostage said he was in good health . Two Islamist nationals abducted earlier this year by gunmen from their hotel . the United Nations said they were kidnapped by militant group Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke . The Two advisers had apparently told the hotel they were journalists .