The CIA is set to carry out secret drone strikes against al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) militants from a newly expanded air base in the Sahara, The New York Times reports.

Barack Obama had sought to put the military in charge of drone attacks towards the latter part of his presidency following a backlash over a series of strikes, some of which led to the deaths of civilians.

But under the Donald Trump administration, the CIA is now moving aircraft to north-eastern Niger to target Islamist militants in southern Libya, signalling an expansion of its drone operations, The New York Times reports.

The newspaper quotes unnamed US and Nigerien officials as saying the CIA had been flying drones on surveillance missions for several months from a corner of a small commercial airport in Dirkou town in north-eastern Niger.

The drones would almost certainly be used in lethal missions in the near future, because of the growing threat posed by militants in southern Libya, a US official told the newspaper.