Fourth U.S. Soldier Is Found Dead After Ambush in Niger<br />6, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — A fourth American soldier has been found dead after an ambush in Niger this week<br />that killed three United States Army Special Forces and wounded two, American officials said on Friday.<br />Local Nigeriens recovered the soldier’s body near the site of the ambush, about 120 miles north of Niamey, the<br />capital of Niger, where the United States now has about 800 troops based, an American military official said.<br />Asked on Friday whether the United States would retaliate against the militants responsible for the deadly attack, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said, "We’re continuing to review<br />and look into this." The Defense Department did not identify the fourth soldier, who was a mechanic, according to two military officials.<br />Now, they are knitted together as the first American troops to die in combat as part of the United States’ broadening counterterrorism<br />mission in Niger, a largely desert nation in northwestern Africa almost three times the size of California.<br />Special Forces troops were ambushed during what was initially called a routine training mission with Nigerien<br />soldiers by what commanders say was a larger, heavily armed Qaeda force from neighboring Mali.<br />Pentagon officials expressed shock at the deaths in Niger during what commanders had initially said was a routine reconnaissance mission.
