New ISIS propaganda video allegedly shows deadly attack on US soldiers in Niger
by Diana Rose Wairumbi
The Islamic State (IS) group has released a video purporting to show their fighters ambushing and killing four US soldiers in Niger last October.
The video consists mostly of raw footage, including images that appear to be shot using a helmet camera belonging to one of the soldiers.
The Pentagon has yet to release a full account of the ambush, and it is not known whether ISIS doctored the video.
According to the BBC, the graphic video shows several armed militants walking and running in a desert area, apparently heading for the ambush.
The U.S. soldiers are seen driving away in a white vehicle, with coloured smoke grenades providing cover.
After a cut in the video, the U.S. soldiers are seen around another vehicle, with one soldier driving and the other two walking beside while seemingly firing at their attackers.
The soldier driving the vehicle jumps out and helps drag one soldier to cover, before he and the camera-wearing soldier run into the brush.
While running, the soldier wearing the camera falls to the ground. The footage ends with the camera still, and militants surrounding the soldier, firing at point-blank range.
The deaths of the soldiers in Niger became a major debate in the United States when the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the men killed in the ambush, said President Donald Trump had made her emotional during a phone call of condolence by suggesting her husband “knew what he signed up for”.
Trump later said Ms. Wilson’s account of the call was “totally fabricated”.
About 800 U.S. soldiers are in Niger helping train local forces and support counter-terrorism efforts,
The October incident marked the the first time the U.S. suffered casualties during combat in Niger.
