Two Spanish citizens and an Irish national who had gone missing after an armed ambush on an anti-poaching patrol in eastern Burkina Faso on Monday have died, two senior Burkina Faso security sources said on Tuesday.

The senior security sources with direct knowledge of the matter requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. A spokesman for the government said a statement will be released later on Tuesday.

A member of the Burkinabe armed forces is still missing.

Two Spanish sources with direct knowledge of the situation also said the two Spaniards had died.

No one has claimed responsibility for Monday’s daytime attack on a road leading to the vast forested reserve of Pama.

Burkina Faso, like much of West Africa’s Sahel region, faces a deepening security crisis as groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State carry out attacks on the army and civilians, despite help from French and U.N. forces.

Insurgents are believed to be holding a number of foreign hostages in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

An official at Spain’s foreign ministry said earlier on Tuesday that it was in contact with the authorities in Burkina Faso and keeping the families of the two Spaniards informed about efforts to locate them.

Ireland’s foreign ministry said late on Monday it was aware of reports about the attack and was liaising closely with international partners.

The worsening violence in Burkina Faso has led to one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises, the United Nations warned earlier in April. The Sahel now hosts nearly 3 million refugees and people displaced inside their own countries.

TodayNG