MILITARY: “Three U.S. Army Green Berets were killed and two others were wounded in an ambush in Niger, marking the first U.S. troops deaths there in support of local forces battling jihadist elements.
The Americans, members of the Army’s Special Forces, were attacked near the Niger-Mali border Wednesday during a patrol as part of a mission to train local forces there, a U.S. defense official said.
President Trump was briefed on the attack, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. The Pentagon didn’t provide any specifics on the incident that led to U.S. troop deaths…
The statement said that U.S. forces are in Niger to provide training and security assistance to the Nigerien Forces as they target extremist groups in the region. U.S. forces are helping with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts, the Pentagon said.
News reports quoted Nigerien officials saying five of their troops also were killed.”
-Nancy A. Youssef, “Three U.S. Troops Killed in Ambush in Niger,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 4, 2017 09:33pm