Timeline How the controversy over Trump's condolence call unfolded Show Hide 
 
 Soldiers killed in Niger Four US army special forces troops and five soldiers from Niger die in an ambush during a joint patrol in the south-west of the country. The ambush took place at 11:40pm on 4 October after the unit had spent two hours in Tongo Tongo, talking to local elders. “Airstrikes were requested as the Americans fought on. Sgt La David Johnson: soldier at the center of dispute over Trump remarks Read more 
 
 Four US special forces soldiers were left behind. Inside the Niger village where U.S. soldiers were ambushed 
 
 Nigerien military sources insist the mission was to capture a terrorist leader and not focused on reconnaissance, as the Pentagon has stated. Johnson’s remains were discovered by Nigerien troops near the site of the attack two days later. "Two of the bodies were in the vehicle and another on the ground," he said. A United Nations assessment indicated that there have been at least 46 attacks by armed groups in the districts around Tongo Tongo since February 2016.
– One of four American soldiers killed in Niger last month may have been kidnapped by ISIS-linked militants before he was executed, sources say. A village elder in northern Niger tells CBS that a battle raged for more than two hours after a group of Green Berets was ambushed by attackers on motorbikes. He says after the battle was over, he saw three American soldiers dead in a truck, stripped of their uniforms. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson, however, was not found for two days and military sources tell CBS that they believe he was taken prisoner by militant who later shot him and dumped the body around half a mile away from the battle site. The military is investigating how the four soldiers became separated from their unit during the Oct.4 attack while seven other American troops were reportedly evacuated. Five Nigerien troops were also killed in the attack, though sources tell the Guardian that the Nigerian forces fled soon after the ambush, leaving the Americans to fight alone. The sources say the trapped American troops struggled to call in an attack from nearby French forces, who complained about bad weather and rough terrain. (The attack has been called a "massive intelligence failure.")