NIAMEY, Niger — Jihadists linked to the Islamic State group on Thursday claimed responsibility for ambushing a military convoy in the West African nation of Niger, killing 28 soldiers in an area near the Malian border where extremists killed four U.S. soldiers in 2017. The Islamic State West Africa Province on Thursday asserted that it carried out the ambush as well as another deadly attack earlier in the week on a prison, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The ambush took place near Mangaize, about 45 kilometers (27 miles) from Tongo Tongo, the site of the October 2017 attack in which American soldiers died. The 2017 attack by more than 100 Islamic State group fighters, which also killed four soldiers from Niger, prompted a U.S. military investigation. The outnumbered soldiers had been searching for a high-level Islamic State group leader.

Source: Washington Post May 16, 2019 10:22 UTC