US suspects Niger villager betrayed Army troops

WASHINGTON — The US military believes someone in a Niger village may have tipped off attackers to the presence of US commandos and Nigerien forces in the area, setting in motion the ambush that killed four Americans, a senior defense official says.

The official said Tuesday that the Army Green Berets and about 30 Nigerien forces stopped in a village for an hour or two to get food and water after conducting an overnight reconnaissance mission. After they left, they were ambushed by about 50 heavily armed enemy fighters, who also killed four Nigerien fighters and wounded two Americans and several Nigerien troops.

Details about the attack and the events leading up to it have been murky, trickling out over the last three weeks. According to the official, the joint US and Niger patrol was asked to help a second American commando team that had been hunting for a senior member of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb believed to be in the area.

The official wasn't authorized to discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

The joint US-Niger team was initially sent on a routine mission to meet local tribal leaders and work with the Niger forces. But after they had set out on October 3, they received a new assignment, the official said. They were asked to go to a location where the insurgent had last been seen, and collect intelligence. Because the insurgent was no longer in that area, military commanders believed the operation wasn't risky, the official said, adding there was no order to search for or find the AQIM member.

Under the rules, US troops in Niger can accompany local forces on missions when "the chances of enemy contact are unlikely." The official said the decision to change the joint team's mission may have met those rules because the AQIM insurgent was no longer there, but those are some of the questions the ongoing investigations will answer.