Military members in Niger.
(Image credit: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)

Three U.S. Army special operations commandos were killed Wednesday after they were ambushed in southwest Niger, U.S. officials said.

Two others were wounded and are in stable condition. The officials told The Associated Press the commandos were Green Berets, and likely came under fire by militants from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement the commandos were near the Mali border, on a joint U.S.-Niger patrol, when they were attacked. The Green Berets are training the Nigerien Armed Forces and offering security assistance as they fight extremists.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.