Niger may have detained militant linked to ambush

NIAMEY, Niger — Niger’s military has detained a suspect who it believes could be the militant leader who was being pursued when an ambush left four American soldiers dead in October, the American ambassador said Tuesday.

U.S. Ambassador Eric P. Whitaker told The Associated Press he does not know the identity of the detained suspect but that the head of Niger’s special forces is hopeful it’s a known extremist leader.

At the time of the ambush, U.S. forces and their counterparts from the Niger military were pursuing Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.

A U.S. investigation into the October ambush, which was claimed by fighters linked to the Islamic State group, has not yet been released.

“Regrettably, they were ambushed by ISIS Greater Sahara forces,” said Whitaker.

U.S. officials familiar with the military investigation into the Niger ambush said last month that it concluded the team didn’t get required senior command approval for their risky mission to capture Chefou.

The investigation finds no single point of failure leading to the attack. It also draws no conclusion about whether villagers in Tongo Tongo, where the U.S. team stopped for water and supplies, alerted IS militants.