Pentagon sends team to Niger to find out what went wrong

October 19, 2017 3oliver

Army Sergeant La David T. Johnson, who died in Niger, and President Donald Trump. Dept. of Defense; Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

The attack and its aftermath have become a political issue in recent days with President Trump under criticism for not initially calling the families of the four killed, for suggesting that prior presidents had not called the families of the fallen, and then for the alleged content of his call to the widow of one of the four soldiers.

The four Americans were killed Oct. 4 when a 12-man team of soldiers from the 3rd Special Forces Group was operating with approximately 30 Forces Armees Nigeriennes (FAN) on a train-and-advise mission near Tongo Tongo, Niger, just miles from the Mali border. The patrol was seen as routine and in fact had been carried out 29 times in the six months before the ambush, the Pentagon has reported.

Militants, both Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and ISIS, have been using a nearby route to travel back and forth into Mali and back to a base camp in Niger, the official said. The partner forces were working to disrupt the so-called rat line and interdict the militants.

The 12 U.S. soldiers went to the village to get supplies — food and water. As part of the mission, they visited village elders. Special Forces soldiers often conduct “key leader engagements,” making contact with local leaders.

The team was split up, with eight in the key leader engagement and the other four with the vehicles.

At the conclusion of the meeting, as the Americans were leaving, they were attacked by 40-50 militants with RPGs and AK-47s. The attackers were “well-equipped and trained,” one Pentagon official said.

The U.S. returned fire but the officials still do not know how many militants may have been wounded or killed in the firefight. There was a platoon of Niger soldiers nearby but U.S. defense officials cannot confirm reports that any of them were wounded or killed.

Armed French Mirage fighter-bombers arrived on scene within about 30 minutes. The planes didn’t drop any bombs or fire on the attackers, but U.S. defense officials believe their presence helped break up the firefight.

One indication of the level of confusion after the attack is that the U.S. military has provided three different answers for who flew the medevac helicopter – first U.S. military officials said it was French military, then that it was the U.S. military. Now, they’re saying it could have been a U.S. contractor.