MADRID — The Spanish Foreign Ministry has announced that a Spanish national has been abducted in an unnamed country in northern Africa, with domestic media outlets suggesting that the individual is being held by a jihadist organization.

According to reports from Spanish state news agency EFE and the newspaper El País, this individual was captured in southern Algeria before being transported into Mali by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.

However, the Foreign Ministry has not confirmed the details provided by the media and has refrained from disclosing the specific location of the kidnapping when queried. The ministry’s statement acknowledged, “Reliable sources confirm that a Spanish citizen is presently being held against his will in northern Africa. The government is actively working to clarify and resolve the situation.”

As of now, there has been no response from Algerian authorities regarding this reported kidnapping. While such incidents have been infrequent in Algeria over recent years, there was a time, about ten years ago, when militant groups in the area frequently engaged in kidnappings and demanded ransoms as a means of financing their operations.

Additionally, Austria’s Foreign Ministry disclosed on Sunday that an unnamed Austrian aid worker was abducted by gunmen in Agadez, Niger, which is situated around 280 miles (450 kilometers) from the porous desert border with Algeria. The ministry mentioned that it had notified Algerian officials regarding the situation.

Algeria, the largest country in Africa by land area, has made significant efforts to curb instability and terrorism within the expansive Sahara region. Nonetheless, this recent kidnapping is particularly concerning, following the tragic incident months ago when a Swiss tourist was killed while traveling through the desert.