Fourth U.S. Soldier Is Found Dead After Ambush in Niger
6, 2017
WASHINGTON — A fourth American soldier has been found dead after an ambush in Niger this week
that killed three United States Army Special Forces and wounded two, American officials said on Friday.
Local Nigeriens recovered the soldier’s body near the site of the ambush, about 120 miles north of Niamey, the
capital of Niger, where the United States now has about 800 troops based, an American military official said.
Asked on Friday whether the United States would retaliate against the militants responsible for the deadly attack, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said, "We’re continuing to review
and look into this." The Defense Department did not identify the fourth soldier, who was a mechanic, according to two military officials.
Now, they are knitted together as the first American troops to die in combat as part of the United States’ broadening counterterrorism
mission in Niger, a largely desert nation in northwestern Africa almost three times the size of California.
Special Forces troops were ambushed during what was initially called a routine training mission with Nigerien
soldiers by what commanders say was a larger, heavily armed Qaeda force from neighboring Mali.
Pentagon officials expressed shock at the deaths in Niger during what commanders had initially said was a routine reconnaissance mission.