According to Fox News Pentagon reporter Lucas Tomlinson, “US special operations forces [were] attacked in Niger in joint patrol with Nigerian forces, multiple casualties feared, officials say.”
BREAKING: Squad of U.S. Special Operations troops were ambushed in Niger, near the border with Mali, U.S. officials told Fox News
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) October 4, 2017
UPDATE: Three U.S. Special Forces troops are killed, two wounded in Niger ambush
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) October 4, 2017
Fox News reports:
A squad of U.S. Special Operations troops were ambushed in Niger, near the border with Mali, U.S. officials told Fox News Wednesday.
U.S. Africa Command confirmed that a joint patrol of U.S. and Nigerien soliders came under fire in the southwestern part of the country. The statement did not mention any casualties, but officials are concerned there may be fatalities.
The officials told Fox News that between eight and 10 troops were part of the patrol.
The U.S. military set up a drone base in Niger in 2013 as part of a continuing effort against extremist organizations in West Africa. The landlocked country is one of the poorest nations in the world.
*UPDATED*
The New York Times reports three U.S. troops are dead, two were hurt.
From NYT:
Three United States Army Special Forces were killed and two were wounded in an ambush in Niger on Wednesday while on a routine patrol with troops they were training from the West African nation, American military officials said.
“We can confirm reports that a joint U.S. and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger,” Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the United States Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, said in an email on Wednesday.
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