December 2017 Chad Basin clash

In the early morning hours of December 6, 2017, a joint patrol of US Army Special Forces and Nigerien soldiers came under attack by armed militants of ISIL-West Africa while conducting an operation in the Lake Chad Basin Region. During the battle no Nigerien or American personal were killed or wounded while 11 militants died including two wearing suicide vests, a weapons cache was also destroyed during the operation according to a United States Africa Command official. The battle was not planned as the purpose of the mission was aimed at setting "The conditions for future parnter-led operations against violent extremist organizations in the region" the statement added.

The attack came a little over two months after an ambush in the village of Tongo Tongo that left at least 30 dead including four Americans. The December firefight was first learned of after a declassified report made for Congress was obtained and reported by The New York Times. The firefight is just one of 10 other incidents involving American personal in Niger. During these previous firefights excluding the ambush that happened two months earlier only a few enemy combatants died while no Americans or Nigeriens were hurt.

This event and most prominently the October ambush led to security changes for US forces operating in the region such as armored vehicles instead of lightly armored SUV's, the arming of drones, and taking a closer look at when US forces conduct operations with local troops.