{"id":58886,"date":"2017-10-23T22:15:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T22:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/23\/top-general-provides-new-details-on-niger-attack\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:01:37","slug":"top-general-provides-new-details-on-niger-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/10\/23\/top-general-provides-new-details-on-niger-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Top general provides new details on Niger attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=ac487c37-d931-4d4d-b3e4-72213dd59615\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/video-poster-ac487c37-d931-4d4d-b3e4-72213dd59615.jpg\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. forces caught in a deadly ambush in Niger earlier this month did not call for support until about an hour into the firefight, according to new details provided by the Pentagon Monday as questions into the four U.S. troop deaths there continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Oct. 4 attack occurred as 12 members of a U.S. special operations task force were returning along with 30 Nigerien partnered forces from an overnight reconnaissance mission. They had traveled from the capital city of Niamey to an area about 50 miles north, near the village of Tongo Tongo, and were in the process of returning back when the attack took place, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, who held the late Monday briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are approximately 800 U.S. troops advising and building the capacity of Nigerien forces there. That\u2019s the highest number of U.S. forces operating there in recent times, but the U.S. has had a presence there for the last 20 years, Dunford said. The forces have concentrated in Niger to counter any potential moves by the Islamic State to reconstitute itself after being driven from its defacto capitals in Iraq and Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are 6,000 U.S. forces operating in AFRICOM in total, Dunford said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overnight mission actually started Oct 3, but the attack occurred during the late morning hours of Oct. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit was ambushed by small-arms fire, rocket propelled grenades and technical vehicles by approximately 50 militants, Dunford said. The U.S. forces had not expected resistance and was only lightly armed with machine guns, small arms and communications capability \u201cto reach back and get larger supporting arms,\u201d Dunford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However the unit did not call for aircraft to assist until an hour after it came under attack, something Dunford said was part of the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy judgement would be that unit thought they could handle that situation without additional support,\u201d Dunford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once the forces called in for help, assistance came in three waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first response came within minutes, as a U.S. drone that had been operating in the region was retasked to provide oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That drone, which Dunford did not identify, did not strike enemy targets on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dunford did not say whether the drone was armed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m not going to talk about what our capabilities are in the region, but that particular capability that was there within the region did not strike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dunford confirmed there was a full motion video feed \u201cright over the scene\u201d during the firefight, which will likely be helpful during the indecent investigation. He had not seen the video yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second wave of air support, in the form of French Mirage jets, arrived roughly an hour after it was requested, which included 30 minutes for the French jets to get off the ground and then roughly 30 minutes to arrive on scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Mirage jets did not immediately drop weapons on the militants, something Dunford indicated was part of the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPart of the requirement is obviously the ability to integrate, and I don\u2019t know if there are any challenges integrating, I don\u2019t know why the Mirages didn\u2019t drop bombs during those initial passes, I don\u2019t know if the people on the ground asked them to do that,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are things we\u2019ll find out in the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, French attack helicopters arrived later in the afternoon, after the fight had been going for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, Dunford said the unit did not have \u201cany limitations\u201d on firing in self-defense and did not know why munitions were not dropped. \u201cIf there is an issue of self-defense we have the inherent right to do that and we will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The firefight continued on through the afternoon, and later that day two wounded U.S. soldiers were medevaced from the scene. By evening, three of the special forces killed \u2013 Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29 \u2013 were airlifted out. At the time they were evacuated, one soldier, Sgt. La David Johnson, was still missing, Dunford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Questions remain about the timeline, specifically about the duration of the firefight and when the U.S. and Nigerien casualties occurred. Five Nigerien troops were killed in the firefight, Dunford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t until 9:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Oct. 4 \u2013 which would have been 2:30 a.m. the morning of Oct. 5 in Niger \u2013 that the Commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, notified Dunford that there was a missing soldier. Dunford then immediately notified the White House, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt that point, knowing we had a missing soldier we made a decision to make sure we had all of the resources to include national assets were available for the recovery of that operation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s Johnson\u2019s status, the almost 48-hour window to recover him and the treatment of his widow in the days after the attack that continue to drive questions about the attack. Myeshia Johnson buried her husband this weekend in Florida. But the pregnant and grieving new Gold Star wife was not allowed to view his body, she told news outlets Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dunford said he would be looking into the circumstances of Johnson\u2019s burial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat typically happens \u2013 again \u2013 I\u2019ve been involved in these cases myself &#8211; there are times when we make a suggestion to the family that they may not want to review the remains. At the end of the day the policy is it\u2019s the family\u2019s decision as to whether or not they do that,\u201d Dunford said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened in the case of Mrs. Johnson but we\u2019ll certainly find that out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dunford said he would also look into why the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson was unable to view her husband&#8217;s body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3293,3323],"class_list":["post-58886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IL66DXO2Q5CKVPI57HOQY37XGU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2017\/10\/23\/top-general-provides-new-details-on-niger-attack\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Top general provides new details on Niger attack - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dunford said he would also look into why the widow of Sgt. 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