By Greg Norman, Fox News
American forces in Niger were the targets of yet another terrorist ambush, a December attack disclosed by U.S. Africa Command on Wednesday — the latest revelation coming amid the fallout from a deadly October ambush and as lawmakers increasingly question the U.S. mission in the African country.
U.S. Africa Command said the Dec. 6 ambush, in which 11 ISIS fighters were killed and no U.S. or Nigerien troops were injured, happened in the Lake Chad Basin area during a mission to “set the conditions for future partner-led operations against violent extremist organizations in the region.”
“A combined force of Nigerien and U.S. military members came under fire from a formation of violent extremists,” Africa Command said in a statement to Fox News. “We assessed 11 enemy killed in action, including two wearing suicide vests, and one weapons cache destroyed during this mission.”
An official that spoke to the New York Times on condition of anonymity said it was one of the first major forays for U.S. troops back into the field since the Oct. 4 ambush.
The official said Green Berets were assisting Nigerien troops on a multiday operation in early December near Diffa, a city near the country’s border with Nigeria. Their goal was to clear a potentially hostile area so the Nigeriens could set up a base there, but it is not clear if that base was ever built, the New York Times added, citing the official.
The attack was not mentioned in testimony to Congress this month by Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of Africa Command, but a senior House Republican aide told the New York Times that lawmakers were made aware of it in December, shortly after it happened.
The incident followed an October attack in which four U.S. soldiers were killed after their convoy in Africa was hit by rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire.
About 50 Islamic extremists ambushed the group of U.S. and Nigerien troops in that attack, wounding two additional Americans and killing 10 Nigerians.
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