Two U.S. service members are missing in southwestern Morocco after participating in the annual African Lion military exercise, U.S. Africa Command (Africom) announced Sunday.

The service members were reported missing Saturday near the city of Tan Tan in southwestern Morocco during the multinational training exercise. Africom confirmed that a search and rescue operation has been launched involving the United States, Morocco, and other countries participating in the exercise.

African Lion is described as the largest joint military exercise on the African continent, involving annual multinational training operations. The exercise brings together forces from the U.S., Morocco, and other allied nations for coordinated military training activities.

"The incident remains under investigation and the search is on-going," Africom stated. "Our focus is on the service members involved and their families."

African Command has not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance or the identities of the missing service members. The search and rescue effort involves multiple nations that are participating in the ongoing exercise.

The missing persons incident occurred during what is considered a routine annual training operation that strengthens military cooperation between the United States and its North African and international partners.