NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's government says an Italian priest has been kidnapped in the nation's southwest near its border with Burkina Faso.

Government spokesman Zakaria Abdourahmane said Tuesday that the government wasn't aware the priest was in that region. He said investigations have begun to find the attackers and free the priest. No further details were available.

Burkina Faso's border with Mali and Niger is home to jihadists who kidnap and kill officials, sometimes in connection with other Islamic extremist groups in West Africa's vast Sahel region.

Extremism in that region has been mounting in the past year, as young men frustrated by poverty are becoming radicalized.

Niger has for years fought extremist groups linked to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization.