A French intelligence agent has escaped his Somali captors more than one month after being taken from a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.

The man, who was one of two French agents abducted on July 14, identified himself to Somali government troops on Wednesday and was taken to the presidential palace.

“We understand he killed three [anti-government] al-Shabab guys who were guarding him,” Abdiqadir Odweyne, a senior police commander, told the Reuters news agency.

The French foreign ministry denied the reports saying: “His release took place without violence, contrary to certain suggestions made locally.

The French agents were in the country to train Somali government forces and the armed opposition movments had threatened to put them on trial for spying and conspiracy against Islam.