The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On March 4, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) media distributed a video with the title "The Attack of the Brave on the U.S. Army: Tongo Tongo Battle." The nine-minute video shows footage of an ambush that occurred on October 4, 2017, in Niger, and cost the lives of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers and several Niger soldiers. Responsibility for the attack was claimed in January 2018, by the local ISIS branch, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).[1]
Banner of the video
The video was previously published by Western news outlets who apparently acquired it from a local news source.[2] Although it was distributed on the usual ISIS Telegram channels, the quality is lower than that of standard ISIS videos posted on Telegram.[3] The video was distributed under the heading: "The Soldiers of the Caliphate Ambush American Soldiers near the Artificial Borders of Niger and Mali."
The video shows footage from the battle filmed by the jihadis, as well as footage from the mounted helmet cameras of the U.S. soldiers. It also depicts the intense firefight, and the death on camera of three of the U.S. operators. In the background, Islamic songs (nasheed) can be heard, as well as a voiceover of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi calling to target Americans, the leaders of "crusaders."
The following are several screenshots from the video.
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U.S. Special Forces soldier helmet cam footage of the firefight
The video shows the last moments of the lives of the U.S. Special Forces soldiers who were killed in action.
The footage in the open sequence shows the jihadi fighters closing in on the ambush site.
The video features an image of the pledge of allegiance to ISIS of the Salah Al-Din Battalion led by Sultan Ould Badi a.k.a Abu Ali.
Endnotes:
[1] See MEMRI JTTM report ISIS Branch In Mali Claims Responsibility For Killing Of U.S. Special Forces Soldiers In Niger, January 14, 2018.
[2] See MEMRI JTTM report Twitter Accounts Publish Screenshots From New Video Allegedly Documenting ISIS Attack On U.S. Soldiers In Niger, January 24, 2018.
[3] Source: Telegram, Wakalat Nasher News, March 4, 2018.
