A local official and an analyst say residents of the Niger village where four Green Beret soldiers were killed this month may have delayed the soldiers while an ambush was set up and helped to lead the victims into a deadly trap.

“The attackers, the bandits, the terrorists have never lacked accomplices among local populations,” admitted Almou Hassane, a local official where the attack took place, in what is believed to be his first interview with a Western news organization.

The village chief has been arrested since the attack, Hassane said, lending credibility to the suspicion of local involvement. He is in government custody according to several officials.

Speaking by telephone to VOA, Almou Hassane said the dead Americans were part of a patrol made up of eight U.S. Green Berets and about 20 Nigerien special forces, which arrived in pickup trucks at the village near the Mali border the evening before the attack.
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