Four Moroccan truck drivers, kidnapped in January 2025 in northeastern Burkina Faso near the border with Niger, were released on the evening of August 3, government of Mali announced in a statement on Monday.

“The Republic of Mali’s government informs the national and international community that four Moroccan truck drivers kidnapped on January 18, 2025, in northeastern Burkina Faso near the border with Niger, were released unharmed on the evening of Sunday, August 3, 2025,” said the Malian government statement, read on national television.

The same source added that the four Moroccan drivers “were in the hands of the Islamic State terrorist group in the Sahel province,” which is the Sahelian branch of “Daesh.”

This successful rescue was made possible thanks to the coordinated efforts of Mali's National Agency for State Security and Morocco's General Directorate of Studies and Documentation (DGED), which conducted the investigation together with determination and professionalism from the very first hours of the kidnapping, the statement said.