Four Moroccan truck drivers who were kidnapped in northeastern Burkina Faso earlier this year have been freed, the Malian government announced on Sunday, August 3, in a statement broadcast on national television.
The drivers were abducted on January 18, 2025, near the border with Niger, in a volatile area plagued by terrorist activity. According to Malian authorities, they were being held by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, a Daesh-affiliated jihadist group active in the Sahel region.
The government confirmed that all four men were found safe and unharmed, though it did not provide further details about the circumstances of their release.
Their liberation was made possible through close cooperation between Malian and Moroccan intelligence services — specifically Mali’s National State Security Agency and Morocco’s General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED). The two agencies had been working together since the kidnapping, conducting joint investigations described as “determined and professional.”
This successful operation brings a positive end to a case in a region where kidnappings of civilians, aid workers, and transport operators are common. It also underscores the growing security cooperation between Sahel countries and their international partners in the fight against terrorism.