Two American soldiers are missing in southwestern Morocco after participating in the annual multinational military exercises held in the North African country, the US Africa Command (Africom) announced on Sunday, according to The Guardian.
The United States, Morocco and the other countries involved in the African Lion exercise launched a search and rescue operation, Africom said.
“The incident is still under investigation and search operations are ongoing,” it said in a statement.
The incident occurred on May 2 near the Cap Draa training area near Tan Tan, close to the Atlantic Ocean. The military exercises began in April and are taking place in four countries, including Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal. They would end at the beginning of May.
African Lion, held since 2004, is the largest annual joint US military exercise on the African continent and typically brings together high-ranking military officials from the United States and key African allies.
US military officials said the annual multinational exercise is meant to strengthen regional security cooperation and improve the training of participating forces to manage global crises.
