![]() As for this latest incident, he said AFRICOM is “going to let the investigation run its course.” In the northern town of Agadez, for example, Barnes said there are “a few hundred Air Force” personnel, and other Americans assisting in surveillance out of the capital of Niamey. servicemen and women assigned to Niger, including some special forces. troops in 2011, as well as “accompanying and assisting” instead of just running short-lived trainings. Africa Command spokesperson Patrick Barnes said in a phone call that the military relationship with Niger grew from trainings to regular rotations of U.S. footprint in Niger has grown, mainly to meet the threat of extremists spilling into the country from neighboring Mali and Nigeria. Their aim has largely been to improve the country’s military capacity-to turn them into a force that can not only handle threats like terrorism on its own, but can also eventually train itself. military has been training soldiers from Niger since the early 2000s. troops, which he did only after a journalist pressed him on the issue. It took the president 12 days to publicly acknowledge the deaths of the four U.S. military engagement in Africa, a little-talked-about keystone in the global U.S. The incident seems certain to make it harder for President Donald Trump to avoid discussing U.S. ![]() Speaking on background, one intelligence expert said the presence of the FBI indicates that the servicemen were not in a combat situation, and that their deaths are being treated as a terrorism case. The FBI announced that it would launch its own investigation. The Pentagon launched its own investigation into how the attack took place and why its troops-who were on a joint patrol with troops from Niger-were so unprepared for it. But there’s little clarity, and certainly sparse information from public officials about what actually happened.Īn offshoot of the Islamic State has been named as a potential suspect in the attack, during which roughly 50 terrorists are believed to have assaulted the troops with grenades and machine guns. On social platforms like Twitter, people are sharing graphic details about the troops’ final, brutal hours. As public scrutiny of the incident intensifies, so too do the many stories about what may have taken place. troops were traveling in unarmored vehicles, how Johnson was separated from the group, how he died, and why it took so long to find him. There is deep confusion over exactly what went wrong, including why U.S. This is the backdrop against which a series of difficult questions emerges. operations in Africa by the Trump administration. Africa Command officials former State Department and intelligence officials and the man who almost served as the senior director for Africa on the National Security Council, along with additional reporting from other news outlets like CNN and The Washington Post, suggests a direct link between the fatal ambush and the absence of a clear strategy or perhaps even a cursory understanding of U.S. This account, based on public statements from the Trump administration, interviews with U.S. French aircraft, called in for back-up, circled overhead as fire was exchanged below. Another, Sergeant La David Johnson, was missing and his body would not be recovered for another two days. troops were confirmed dead and two more were gravely injured. Then they were ambushed.īy the time the more than 30-minute assault was over, three U.S. They were close to the Malian border, traveling in unarmored pick-up trucks with limited weaponry and a few dozen of their Nigerien counterparts. troops were preparing to leave a meeting with community leaders near the small town of Tongo Tongo in Niger.
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