An Irish national is among three foreigners and a soldier who are missing in Burkina Faso after being attacked by gunmen during an anti-poaching patrol, the government said.

A military wildlife unit was ambushed on Monday morning while travelling with the foreigners, nine miles from their base in the eastern town of Natiaboni, said Yendifimba Jean-Claude Louari, mayor of Fada N’gourma, the main town in the east.

A large operation is under way to find them, he added.

Ireland’s foreign ministry told the Associated Press it was “aware of the reports and is liaising closely with international partners regarding the situation on the ground”.

The other two foreigners were Spanish, according to security and government sources. Two military trucks, 12 motorcycles and guns were also stolen during the attack, they said.

Two soldiers wounded in the attack and taken to a military hospital in the capital, Ouagadougou, said they were attacked by jihadists who outnumbered their 15-person patrol.

One soldier was shot in the leg and the other in his arm, causing it to be amputated. When the jihadists attacked, the soldiers tried to form a protective shield around the foreigners, but once the shooting stopped they realised they had disappeared, one said.

“We were discouraged. It’s like you leave your house with 10 people, you go to work and then you come back with eight people. What do you say to those two people’s families?” said one of the soldiers.

The foreigners – two of them were journalists and one a trainer – had been travelling with the rangers for about a week, said the soldiers. The rangers were conducting their first mission in Arly National Park after finishing a six-month anti-poaching training programme, he said.

The Spanish foreign ministry confirmed two of its citizens were missing in Burkina Faso, according to a text message from a Spanish diplomat seen by the AP The Spanish embassy in neighbouring Mali is in contact with their families and is investigating the situation and working with local authorities, said the message.

Burkina Faso has been attacked by jihadists linked to al Qaida and the so-called Islamic State group who have killed thousands and displaced more than a million people.

The east is one of the hardest-hit parts of the country, and while it is unclear which group operates where the attack occurred, conflict analysts say the area is known to be under jihadist control and that the groups carry out kidnappings as a way to fund their operations.