Four American soldiers killed in Niger

Written by Annie Coniglio, World News Writer

On October 4th four American soldiers were killed in Tongo Tongo, Niger. They were Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright (age: 29), Sgt. Bryan Black (age: 35), Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson (age: 39), and Sgt. La David Johnson (age: 25).

Sergeant La David Johnson’s body was found two days after the ambush. Not only were American soldiers killed in this ambush, but two Nigerian soldiers were also killed.

These slain American soldiers, accompanied by 8 other American soldiers and 30 to 40 Nigerian soldiers, were on a mission near Tongo Tongo. After completing their mission, they headed back to their camp where they were attacked by an unidentified Islamic extremist group.

Approximately 50 militants attacked the soldiers with grenades and gunfire. Nigerian and U.S. soldiers fought back against the extremist group. A French military aircraft arrived one hour later, although due to Nigerian laws they could not shoot towards the Islamic group.

The Pentagon believes that a group tied to Al-Qaeda and ISIS are responsible for the attacks.