“This American citizen is safe and is now in the care of the US Department of State,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that no military personnel were injured in the operation.

While the Pentagon did not provide the American citizen’s identity, a US official told Reuters it was 27-year-old Philip Walton, who was kidnapped earlier in the week, and the raid included Navy SEALs.

Six gunmen riding motorcycles and armed with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped Walton from his home on the edge of a rural village in neighbouring southern Niger early on Tuesday.

Niger, 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 US forces.