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Niger Launches Hunt For Killers Of U.S. Military Official
NIAMEY (AFP) - The Niger government said Sunday it was launching a vast manhunt for two bandits who killed a U.S. military official and badly wounded another during a carjacking in the capital of the north-central African state.
The U.S. defense department confirmed that retired U.S. army master sergeant William Bultmeier, 51, was shot dead and Marine staff sergeant Christopher McNeely, 35, was wounded in the attack, which took place early Saturday as the two were leaving a restaurant with a group of embassy personnel.
Defense department spokesman Jim Turner told journalists in Washington that it appeared the incident was a criminal act and not a politically motivated one, but added a full investigation would take place.
The Niger government said in a statement it "vigorously condemns this odious and monstrous act of banditism".
Government spokesman Akoli Dawel, reading the statement on national radio, said it appeared the assailants had fled in Bultmeier's four-wheel-drive vehicle towards the border with Mali.
He said a massive search operation would be conducted in coordination with Mali and other neighboring countries to arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.
Niamey, Niger's capital, has been hit by a wave of crime over the past three months, with the owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles particularly targeted.
Bultmeier, McNeely and four other U.S. nationals had just left La Cloche, a city center bar popular with expatriates, at around 1:00 am (midnight GMT) Saturday when the attack occurred.
Bultmeir was confronted by two armed men who shot him as he was unlocking his car, according to a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Niamey.
McNeeley tried to protect the fallen man from further injury when he too was shot several times in the arm. Bultemeier was then shot again, this time fatally.
A witness said on Saturday that the U.S. nationals were attacked by three men, reportedly wearing turbans, after they left La Cloche.
Bullets tore one of the victim's arms off and the other was hit in the neck, according to the witness, who works for a Niamey radio station.
"I heard several bursts of shooting and then one of the bandits pointed a Kalashnikov [assault rifle] at us," he said. "We put our hands up and they fled towards the far bank of the [Niger] river with the Americans' vehicle."
"The bodies lay still in the street for quite a while until a group of Marines took them away," he added.
The U.S. defense department did not substantiate his report.
Turner said McNeeley had been transported to Ramstein Air Base in Germany for treatment, where he was in stable condition.
Bultemeier had been in West Africa for five months, under contract to re-establish the Department of Defense attaché office at the Niger embassy.
U.S. embassies in Africa had beefed up security following two August 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam that left 223 dead and thousands injured.
In Niamey, police earlier this month announced they had dismantled a network of armed gangs and arrested a dozen of their chiefs in a crackdown on crime in the country.
On Sunday, Dewal said the Niger government would ensure the safety of foreign residents "by all means."
But he also recommended that owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles take care, and avoid using them late at night.
The crime wave in Niamey has caused panic. Offices, shops and homes of business people have been attacked and gunmen have stolen many vehicles.
On Thursday, three thieves shot dead the cash clerk at an Elf service station, one of the largest in the capital, when he refused to hand over the day's takings.
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