The Hill | Ellen Mitchell | January 23, 2020
The U.S. military on Thursday released new details of the Jan. 5 attack on a Kenyan airbase used by U.S. troops following a New York Times report that described the scene as chaotic.
U.S. Africa Command (Africom) in a statement pushed back on the Times report, which noted that American forces were surprised by an al-Shabaab attack on the Kenyan Defense Force Military Base in Manda Bay, Kenya, taking roughly an hour to respond and even longer to evacuate a wounded Pentagon personnel.
U.S. Army Spc. Henry Mayfield and two U.S. contractors, Bruce Triplett and Dustin Harrison, were killed, and six contractor-operated civilian aircraft were damaged in the incident.
“The tragic loss of these brave Americans and the damage and destruction to aircraft demonstrates the enemy achieved a degree of success in its attack,” according to the statement from Africom.