Dakar, Senegal: A joint patrol of US and Niger troops came under attack in southwest Niger on Wednesday, a spokesman for US Africa Command confirmed after a lethal ambush near the Niger-Mali border.

"We can confirm reports that a joint US and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger," said the spokesman.

Namatta Abubacar, an official for the region of Tillaberi in Niger, said five Nigerien soldiers were among the dead. US military officials said three US Army special forces soldiers were killed and two wounded in the ambush.

A Niger diplomatic source said that the attackers had come from Mali and had killed several soldiers, without saying whether any of the US troops stationed in the West African country were among the victims.