Ongoing Operations after 3 US Army Commandos Killed in Niger Attack

Niger troops patrol near Diffa on June 16, 2016. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sanogo)
Niger troops patrol near Diffa on June 16, 2016. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sanogo)
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Ongoing Operations after 3 US Army Commandos Killed in Niger Attack

Niger troops patrol near Diffa on June 16, 2016. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sanogo)
Niger troops patrol near Diffa on June 16, 2016. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sanogo)

Military operations were underway on Thursday near Niger's border with Mali the day after three US Army special operations commandos were killed and two others were wounded in an ambush on a patrol in southwest Niger.

Nigerien, US and French troops were conducting military operations in the zone on Thursday, a Nigerien security source said without providing additional details.

An official at Mali's defense ministry said military operations were taking place within Niger and that Malian forces had reinforced their checkpoints along the border.

On Wednesday, the two wounded commandos were taken to Niamey, the capital, and are in stable condition, said US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

The officials said the commandos, who were Green Berets, were likely attacked by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militants.

In a statement, US Africa Command said the forces were with a joint US and Nigerien patrol north of Niamey, near the Mali border, when they came under hostile fire.

Africa Command said the US forces are in Niger to provide training and security assistance to the Nigerien Armed Forces in their efforts against violent extremists.

The attack marks the first known US combat casualties in Niger.

According to Radio France Internationale, the ambush took place after militants from Mali attacked the village of Tongo Tongo in Tillaberi on Wednesday. 

A counter-operation was launched, but the American and Niger soldiers fell into a trap, said the radio report. 

The White House said President Donald Trump was notified about the attack Wednesday night as he flew aboard Air Force One from Las Vegas to Washington.

Militant groups form part of a growing regional insurgency in the poor, sparsely populated deserts of West Africa's Sahel.

They have stepped up attacks on UN peacekeepers, Malian soldiers and civilian targets after being driven back in northern Mali by a French-led military intervention in 2013.



Iran Guards Say Military Capabilities ‘Red Lines’ in US Talks 

The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Guards Say Military Capabilities ‘Red Lines’ in US Talks 

The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tuesday the country's military capabilities were off limits, ahead of a second round of talks with the United States on its nuclear program.

"National security and defense and military power are among the red lines of Iran, which cannot be discussed or negotiated under any circumstances," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran and the United States will hold another round of talks in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials met in the Omani capital for the highest-level discussions since the 2015 nuclear deal collapsed.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal during his first term, has reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran since returning to office in January.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.

Trump addressed reporters on Monday regarding Iran, saying "I'll solve that problem" and "That's almost an easy one".

The US leader also threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and called Iranian authorities "radicals" who should not possess nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied seeking an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, especially the provision of energy.

Late Sunday, Iran's official IRNA news agency said the country's regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its "red lines" in the talks.

Tehran supports the "axis of resistance" -- a network of armed groups opposed to Israel, including Yemen's Houthi militias, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Shiite militia groups in Iraq.

On April 12, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for "indirect" talks, according to Iranian officials and media.

The talks were the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of the 2015 accord, formally known is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The accord offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Both Tehran and Washington, enemies who have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 revolution, have called the latest round of negotiations "constructive".

Araghchi's office has said he will travel to Moscow at the end of this week for talks with Russia, a close ally of Iran and party to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Moscow welcomed the Iran-US talks as it pushed for a diplomatic solution and warned any military confrontation would be a "global catastrophe".