Two U.S. Army soldiers went missing the evening of May 2 near coastal cliffs at the Cap Draa Training Area, outside the city of Tan Tan in southwestern Morocco, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced Sunday.
U.S. Africa Command confirms two U.S. Army soldiers are missing in Morocco after disappearing during a joint military exercise near the Cap Draa Training Area. Search and recovery operations are ongoing in coordination with Moroccan forces.#USArmy #Morocco #Military #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/EGsMO4OA2C
— Vision Reports (@purewords0) May 3, 2026
A U.S. defense official told the Associated Press the soldiers had completed the day’s scheduled exercises and were on a recreational hike when they disappeared around 9 p.m. local time. The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces confirmed the service members were last seen near a cliff.
“Initial reports indicate the two soldiers may have fallen into the ocean,” a U.S. defense official told Reuters by email. “I can confirm this incident is not related to terrorism.”
AFRICOM said in a statement that “the incident remains under investigation and the search is on-going,” adding that its focus is “on the service members involved and their families.” The U.S., Morocco, and other participating nations immediately launched a coordinated search and rescue operation using ground, air, and maritime assets.
🇺🇸🇲🇦A Moroccan military helicopter continued on Sunday the search for two American soldiers who went missing in the Cap Draa area in southern Morocco, on the sidelines of the African Lion 2026 exercises.
The latest information suggests that they likely drowned while swimming in… pic.twitter.com/02Dz43VoPU
— Assahifa English (@EnglishAssahifa) May 3, 2026
The disappearance came as AFRICOM was using African Lion 2026 to field test Guardian, a software-based personnel tracking system designed to give commanders near real-time visibility of troop locations across dispersed operational environments. The Army announced the Guardian test program on April 23.
African Lion 2026, led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), runs from April 20 to May 8 across four host nations: Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia. The Cap Draa Training Area is located directly on the rugged Atlantic coastline, roughly 15 miles from the city of Tan Tan. Approximately 5,000 personnel from more than 40 countries are participating in the Morocco portion of the exercise, which has run annually since 2004.
