WASHINGTON (AP) – A U.S. military official says it believes someone in a Niger village may have tipped off attackers to the presence of U.S. commandos and Nigerien forces, setting in motion the ambush that killed four Americans.
The official says the Army Green Berets and about 30 Niger forces stopped in the village for an hour or two to get food and water. After they left, they were ambushed by about 50 heavily armed enemy fighters, who also killed four Nigerien fighters.
According to the official, the joint patrol was asked to help a second American commando team that had been hunting for a senior member of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the incident publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
These images provided by the U.S. Army show, from left, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wash.; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; Sgt. La David Johnson of Miami Gardens, Fla.; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga. A senior U.S. defense official says the military suspects that American special forces were ambushed in Niger after someone in the village they visited told enemy fighters they were in the area. The Army Green Berets and about 30 Niger forces stopped in a village for an hour or two to get food and water after conducting an overnight reconnaissance mission. All four were killed in Niger, when a joint patrol of American and Niger forces was ambushed by militants believed linked to the Islamic State group. (U.S. Army via AP)
