Two French nationals have been kidnapped in Mali.

Local sources say gunmen abducted the two early Thursday from their hotel in the town of Hombori, in eastern Mali near the border with Niger.

They say the two French citizens work for a cement company. The French Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnapping and said it is trying to gather details on the incident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The kidnapping brings to six the number of French nationals abducted in the Sahel region in recent years. Four of them are still being held by Al-Qaida-linked militants.

The militant group — al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb — operates across the Sahel, a strip of semi-arid land that separates the Sahara Desert from the rest of Africa.