Hunting al-Qaida

Lolita Baldor has an Associated Press article via Yahoo about yet more dead soldiers in Niger:

Officials said three Army special operations commandos were killed Wednesday and two others were wounded when they came under fire in southwest Niger.
The officials said the two wounded were taken to Niamey, the capital, and are in stable condition. The officials were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the commandos, Green Berets, were likely attacked by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb militants.
In a statement, U.S. Africa Command said the forces were with a joint American and Nigerian patrol north of Niamey, near the Malian border, when they came under hostile fire.
Africa Command said the forces are in Niger to provide training and security assistance to the Nigerian Armed Forces in their efforts against violent extremists.
The White House said President Donald Trump was notified about the attack Wednesday night as he flew aboard Air Force One from Las Vegas, Nevada to Washington, DC. Trump was in Las Vegas meeting with victims of Sunday night's shooting massacre, along with first responders and doctors.

Rico (and commenter Jeff) wonders WTF are we doing in Niger, of all places? (Ah, killing al-Qaida; that's a good thing.)