There were “no reported casualties” from the blast on June 8, 2019, that hit an MRAP all-terrain vehicle, the military said in initially. But a pair of Purple Heart certificates turned up in response to a Freedom of Information Act request earlier this year suggest that at least two soldiers suffered undisclosed wounds.
My friend John Vandiver wrote about the attack for Stars and Stripes at the time.
“No U.S. fatalities occurred as a result of the incident,” AFRICOM spokesman Col. Chris Karns told John in a statement. He also said it’s possible “non-hostile factors” caused the damage.
The following day, Karns said U.S. troops were being evaluated for injuries as a precaution after the 12-ton M-ATV ran over a pressure-plate activated bomb, but there were still no indications anyone had been wounded.
And days later in Washington, former Marine and New York Times reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff reported that military officials were saying the bomb “was rudimentary and harmed no one.” The device consisted of a buttload of mortar rounds, the official told Gibbons-Neff.
The bomb used on June 8, according to a military official, was activated by a weatherproofed pressure plate and wired to an 81 millimeter mortar projectile, which exploded, causing a main charge of nearly a dozen 60 millimeter mortar rounds to detonate. The explosives were buried roughly three feet underground and positioned at a key choke point on a road that led to a shooting range frequented by American, Canadian and Nigerien troops.
— Thomas Gibbons-Neff, ‘Roadside Blast in Niger That Hit Americans Shows Growing Threat, Officials Say,’ The New York Times (June 14, 2019)
It turns out two soldiers were sent back to Germany for additional observation, Maj. Andrew Caulk of Special Operations Command Africa told me on July 15.
“No significant observable injuries were reported immediately after the incident,” Caulk said. Identities and conditions are not typically disclosed for privacy and operational security reasons, he said.
The Purple Heart certificates released under FOIA do not describe the wounds, but the initial reports of no casualties all likely means that these two soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries that were not immediately evident. A similar thing played out in Iraq last year after Iran lobbed a dozen ballistic missiles at bases in the west and north of the country.
The weapons range where the blast occurred is near a Nigerien town of Ouallam, about 60 miles north of the city of Niamey. Ouallam is also where the team of special operations troops trained in Niger prior to a deadly October 2017 ambush that ultimately left four Americans and four Nigeriens dead.
U.S. official told The New York Times that if a vehicle with less armor had struck the explosive device, the casualties would have been significant.
“Fortunately, the force protection measures in place defeated the IED and protected the service members from further harm,” Caulk told me.
The Americans wounded in the blast were serving with the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), which is one of two National Guard SF groups. It’s headquartered in Draper, Utah, but has detachments in several states.
The bombing came just days after then-Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced that he would not pursue additional punishment against military personnel after a review of the initial inquiry into the ambush near the remote village of Tongo Tongo along the Niger-Mali border.
Officials blamed the 2019 blast on the same Islamic State affiliate in the region that’s believed to be behind the 2017 ambush. The U.S. is offering millions in cash as a bounty on information about the perpetrators of the ambush and the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
Here are the Purple Heart certificates from the 2019 incident. The names and other details have been redacted and while I am aware of who the individuals are from other sources, I won’t be disclosing that information here.
PurpleHearts-NigerKeep Reading
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