By Tim Cocks and Abdoulaye Massalatchi
Niger has asked the United States to start using armed drones against jihadist groups operating on the Mali border, raising the stakes in a counter-insurgency campaign jolted by a deadly ambush of allied U.S.-Nigerien forces.
On Oct. 4, Islamist militants with sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenades killed four U.S. soldiers and at least four of their Nigerien partners in an ambush that exposed the dangers of an expanding U.S. presence in the largely desert nation.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-11-01/niger-defense-minister-asks-us-to-deploy-armed-drones-against-militants
