ISIS releases video of ambush that killed 4 from Fort Bragg

A newly released ISIS propaganda video appears to use footage captured during an ambush that left four Fort Bragg soldiers dead. Part of the footage appears to be taken from the helmet camera of one of the soldiers.

The nine-minute video is graphic and includes scenes of soldiers injured and in their final minutes of life.

The footage appears to have been captured during the October attack in Niger that killed four Fort Bragg soldiers. It shows the firefight between the soldiers and the militants until the soldier wearing the helmet cam is killed.

The footage shows the U.S. soldiers take position behind an unarmored SUV during the firefight. As the battle continues, they release colored smoke grenades and attempt to run to nearby trees for cover.

At the end of the video, the soldier wearing the helmet camera appears to fall to the ground.

The last shot shows militants firing at him at point blank range.

Times reporters, working with a digital forensics expert, were able to verify the video’s authenticity and piece together the final stages of the attack. But because the video shows the deaths of the service members and also includes packaged Islamic State propaganda footage, Times editors decided not to publish the video itself.

In the footage, the three Americans — Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright — are cut off in the desert scrub, under intense fire.

A fourth American, Sgt. La David Johnson, who had gotten separated from the group, also died in the attack.

Black goes down first. Sliding out of the black SUV to help him, Wright, a former football player, grabs his friend by the flak jacket and hauls him to the wheel well for cover. He then changes places with Johnson and aims over the hood.

As the gunmen close in, Wright and Johnson begin sprinting flat out.

Johnson, wearing the body camera, trails behind. He is hit and goes down. Wright stops running, turns and fires at the militants from behind a bush.

The militants are moving toward Johnson, who is lying exposed on the ground.

For several long excruciating breaths, Wright keeps the militants away. But there’s only so much one soldier can do. The militants shoot Johnson several more times, and then turn all of their fire on Wright.

He holds them off for as long as he can.