Casablanca, Morocco—— Four Moroccan truck drivers kidnapped in West Africa over the weekend have been released in Niger, officials said.

These drivers are the latest victims of insecurity in the Sahel. The Sahel is a dry region south of the Sahara. In recent years, armed groups such as the Islamic State in the Sahel have taken advantage of local dissatisfaction to strengthen their ranks and expand their influence.

The four were reported missing on Saturday while transporting electrical equipment from Casablanca to Niger's capital Niamey, having been on the 3,000-mile (4,950-kilometer) truck route for more than 20 days. The secretary-general of the Moroccan Transport Union and a Moroccan official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the kidnapping.

The Moroccan embassy in Burkina Faso informed the union on Monday evening that the four drivers had been released and were now safe in Niamey.

“They will be brought back soon,” said Echarki El Hachmi, the union’s secretary-general. Their truck and cargo were still missing, he added.

The driver chose not to be escorted by the army on the route between northeastern Burkina Faso and western Niger. Moroccan officials said they disappeared while crossing the border between Burkina Faso and Niger from the town of Dori to the town of Tela.

Truck drivers are discouraged from traveling along this route without a safety escort. Elhachimi said the driver was taken to a remote forest by an unknown armed group.

Moroccan officials said there was no evidence linking a specific group to the kidnappings. Moroccan authorities did not respond to questions about the ransom.

The Islamic State group and regional affiliates of al-Qaeda have recently expanded their activities in the Sahel region, which has been upended by military coups and junta-led governments in recent years. To combat the insurgency, they replaced security partnerships with Western countries with mercenary groups including Russia's Afrika Korps.

The United Nations says terrorism and organized crime perpetrated by militant groups are "pervasive threats" in the Sahel.

Militants have killed thousands and displaced millions in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

According to the site of armed conflict, 439 people were abducted or forcibly disappeared in the three countries in 2024, including 150 by the Islamic State in the Sahel and Al Qaeda-linked groups, known by its abbreviation JNIM . & Event Data, a nonprofit that collects violence data.