Four US army soldiers have been killed in Lithuania during training, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said while visiting Warsaw on Wednesday.

“Whilst I was speaking the news came out about four American soldiers who were killed in an incident in Lithuania,” Rutte told reporters, adding that he did not know any details.

“The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the four missing US soldiers were operating during a training exercise has been located in Lithuania,” it said in a statement.

A statement from the US army’s Europe and Africa public affairs office in Wiesbaden, Germany, said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.