An Australian couple have been kidnapped by extremists.

Officials from the Burkina Government have confirmed that an Australian couple were kidnapped in Baraboule, Burkina Faso, near the borders of Mali and Niger.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore confirmed the couple as Dr Kenneth Elliott and his wife Jocelyn. The couple have been living in the country since 1972. They ran a medical clinic and lived in Djibo.

Ansar Dine, a spokesperson for a Malian militant group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, alleging the couple are now in the hands of an Al Qaeda-linked group, “Emirate of the Sahara”.

The spokesperson confirmed in a short phone message that the couple were alive and further information about the abduction would be released soon. Intelligence first came through about a couple’s kidnapping on Friday, however diplomatic sources were still attempting to certify their nationality. It was initially reported the couple were Austrian, rather than Australian. At the time, they believed the objectives of the kidnappers were to take their hostages towards Mali. Earlier this week, the same jihadist group, allegedly responsible for kidnapping the Elliott couple, stormed a hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, which left at least 27 people dead.

According to the ABC, the Elliot couple run a 120-bed medical clinic and were attracted to Burkino Faso for medical and spiritual reasons.

“I don’t think we sort of envisaged doing what has been done, we’re doing what we think is mission work,” Dr Elliott said in a YouTube video. “First of all meeting a need, but ultimately our aim is [to] show the love of God.”

In the same video, he explained they had performed all kinds of surgeries, from hernias to tumors, primarily due to the lack of medical services.