A December special operations fight in Niger left 11 ISIS fighters dead

Washington Examiner:
U.S. Green Berets and Nigerien forces in Niger were involved in a battle with those believed to be Islamic State militants in December — an episode the U.S. military acknowledged for the first time this week, according to a new report.

According to Samantha Reho, a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command, Nigerien and American troops “came under fire from a formation of violent extremists," starting a fight which ended in the deaths of 11 ISIS militants. U.S. and Nigerien troops were not harmed in the fight.

The December attack came just two months after the deadly ambush of the joint patrol of U.S. and Nigerien forces in Niger in October, which took the lives of four American soldiers.

The battle was mentioned in an unclassified report obtained by the New York Times and delivered to Congress this week by the Trump administration, which claimed that U.S. and Nigerien forces had responded “in self-defense” after coming under fire.

“The purpose of the mission was to set the conditions for future partner-led operations against violent extremist organizations in the region,” Reho said. “There was no aspect of this mission focused on pursuing enemy militants and the combined force was postured to respond as necessary in case contact with the enemy occurred.”
...
At the time the US and Nigerian forces were clearing an area to set up a new base of operations.  It looks like they found the enemy in the course of doing that.

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