A new documentary has made the explosive claim that senior US Army officials lied to the public and the families of four special forces soldiers about the circumstances of their deaths in an ISIS ambush in Niger.
The ABC News film, 3212 Un-Redacted, is set to be released on Thursday through Hulu, offering an in-depth investigation of the October 4, 2017 massacre near the village of Tongo Tongo.
Killed in the overwhelming ambush by scores of ISIS fighters were four members of Operation Detachment Alpha Squad 3212: Sergeant La David Johnson, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, and Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright.
Top military brass including General Thomas D. Waldhauser, then head of US Africa Command, claimed that the squad had gone rogue and conducted an unauthorized capture-kill mission targeting an ISIS subcommander, while claiming they were conducting simple reconnaissance.
But documents and interviews revealed in the new documentary suggest that in fact, Squad 3212 was following direct orders, and that military leaders appear to have been covering their own tracks, according to a review of the film by Rolling Stone.
'The Army let me down. They let my son down, and then they lied about it,' said Wright's grieving father in a trailer for the film.
The grieving father of Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright (above) said in a new documentary: 'The Army let me down. They let my son down, and then they lied about it.'
Killed in the overwhelming ambush on October 4, 2017 in Niger were Sergeant La David Johnson (left) and Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson (right)
Staff Sergeant Bryan Black (left) and Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright (right) were also killed
In footage of the ambush, US soldiers use a Landcruiser for cover as they drive it toward colored smoke that has been deployed to obscure their retreat and signal air support
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Wednesday evening.
The ambush occurred one day after US soldiers and Nigerien forces attempted to locate and capture or kill Doundou Chefou, an ISIS subcommander in the region.
After two failed attempts to locate the insurgent, the convoy was returning to base when partner Nigeriens insisted on stopping in Tongo Tongo to eat and meet with village leaders. The meetings dragged out, leading the US soldiers to suspect that they were being stalled and delayed.
After leaving Tongo Tongo, the unarmored convoy fell into a trap and the Nigerien supporting forces melted away. In a chaotic confrontation, outnumbered three
