Pentagon says fourth U.S. soldier killed in Niger ambush
The US military said on Friday that a fourth soldier was killed during an attack on Wednesday in Niger, raising the death toll from an incident that has thrown a spotlight on the US counter-terrorism mission in the West African nation.
Reuters had learned previously that one US soldier was missing after Wednesday's operation.
It withheld publication of this information at the request of the Pentagon, which maintained that its rescue and recovery effort would be jeopardized.
The Pentagon disclosed on Friday that the service member's body had been located. It declined to release a name, pending notification of his family.
'The body of another US service member has been recovered from the area of the attack, bringing the number of US service members killed in this attack to four,' Colonel Robert Manning said in a statement.
Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright, 29, of Lyons, Georgia was one of three US Army Green Berets killed in an ambush by suspected ISIS terrorists in Niger on Wednesday
Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Washington, was identified as another casualty of the ambush
Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio, was identified as a third fatality of the ambush, the Pentagon announced
No group has taken responsibility for the killings, although the United States suspects that a local branch of Islamic State was responsible.
At least four Niger soldiers were killed in the ambush.
Eight Niger soldiers and two US troops were wounded in the attack, but they were evacuated from the area on Wednesday after the attack unfolded.
The US military on Friday published the names of the three Army Special Forces soldiers from 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) who were killed when their reconnaissance patrol with Nigerien forces came under fire.
They were Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, 35, of Puyallup, Washington; Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; and Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright, 29, of Lyons, Georgia.
All three fatalities were commandos stationed in Fort Bragg, the US Army base in North Carolina which is the largest military installation in the world.
Black enlisted in the Army in October 2009.
US Army soldiers carry Wright's casket after arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday
His service was a decorated one during which he earned accolades and awards, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the National Defense Service Medal, according to The Seattle Times.
Johnson served as a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear specialist (CBRN). He first enlisted in the Army in 2007.
'Unfortunately, we lost another one,' Springboro Mayor John Agenbroad told the Journal-News of Butler County, Ohio.
Agenbroad made the comments on the same day his grandson, Jackson Book of Springboro, was deployed to Iraq.
'We’re so stretched out with all the wars,' said Agenbroad, who is also a veteran.
'It’s a shame our young men and women have to spend so many deployments in these places. The odds are against them.'
'Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson was an exceptional soldier in all regards,' said Lt. Col. Megan Brogden, commander of Group Support Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.
'We, as a nation, are fortunate to have men like Jeremiah.
'He not only represented what we should all aspire to be, but he lived it. His loss is a great blow and he will be missed and mourned by this unit.'
News of Wright's death was delivered to his family Wednesday by an Army casualty notification team, according to Southeast Georgia Today.
US troops are in the West African nation to train the local government's forces to combat jihadist elements there. The file photo above shows US Army Special Forces troops observing as Nigerien service members fire their weapons in an exercise in Diffa, Niger in March
Ardie Wright, Dustin's father, flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday morning to meet his son's casket.
He was accompanied on the trip by Dustin's mother, Terri Criscio, and his brother Will.
'The news was shocking and confusing,' Criscio's sister, Ginger Russell, said.
'There are still so many questions, but we are here to help Dustin's parents and siblings carry this burden.
'Dustin was the most lovable, funny jokester who never met a stranger and would give his last dime to help someone in need.
'He made the ultimate sacrifice. He is our homeown hero. He was loved by so many.'
Denise Collins, Dustin's cousin, spent time with Ardie Wright before his departure for Delaware.
'He was naturally very upset and kept saying that no father should have to bury his son,' she said.
'We agreed, but we know these things can happen when you join the service and are in a different country where they don't care and actually hate Americans.
'He was fighting for some of those people.'
Collins said Dustin was 'a very special person, a very unique young man.'
'He took great pride in being able to serve his country,' she said.
'I told someone today that Dustin knew exactly what could happen one day when he signed up and he was ready for it.
'He was ready to serve our country to the best of his ability and the fact he was a Green Beret proves to me that he did that.'
Niger's army said the joint Nigerian-American patrol on the Mali-Niger border was ambushed by militants riding in a dozen vehicles and on about 20 motorcycles near the village of Tongo Tongo.
Islamist militants form part of a regional insurgency in the poor, sparsely populated deserts of West Africa's Sahel.
Jihadists have stepped up attacks on UN peacekeepers, Malian soldiers and civilian targets since being driven back in northern Mali by a French-led military intervention in 2013.
Malian militant groups have expanded their reach into neighboring countries, including Niger, where a series of attacks by armed groups led the government in March to declare a state of emergency in the southwest.