Washington (AFP) - Militia fighters stole hundreds of American-supplied automatic weapons and other equipment in a raid on a Libyan base where the US was training local forces, bringing an abrupt end to the secretive program, a report said Tuesday.

Elite US troops have been tasked since last year with covertly forming local counterterrorism units in Libya, Mauritania, Niger and Mali, part of US efforts to widen the war against Al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa, The New York Times reported, citing American officials.

It has been financed in part with millions of dollars in classified Pentagon spending, the Times said, and involves instructing and equipping "handpicked" commandos in the four countries, with the hope the teams will eventually be able to take on fighters like Boko Haram.

But the initiative has endured several setbacks, notably in Libya, where the training was suddenly cut short in August last year when a group of armed militia fighters overpowered a small Libyan guard force at a training camp outside the capital Tripoli, the newspaper said.

As well as automatic weapons, the fighters seized night-vision goggles and vehicles, it added, saying that American instructors were promptly sent home. US officials are now looking for a more secure site to get the program going again.

"But last summer's debacle and the political upheaval in Libya since then have caused American officials to rethink how they select local personnel," the Times said.

View gallery

Libyan forces check their weapons at a base in Tripoli on August 12, 2013 (AFP Photo/Mahmud Turkia)

The American trainers had issued the Libyans M4 automatic rifles and Glock pistols, and the Libyans were responsible for safeguarding them at a warehouse. But all were taken in the pre-dawn raid on August 4, believed carried out by a local militia that overpowered the Libyan guards.

The American trainers were not at the training camp at the time because they would usually stay at a nearby villa, leading to suspicions that the theft was an "inside job."

Much of the equipment was later recovered, but some news reports suggested at least some of the weapons had gone on sale on the black market, the report said.

"The take-away here is they’re going to take a lot more adult supervision to make sure the checks and balances are in place, so you don’t have outside militia taking over,” the Times quoted a former American Special Operations officer as saying.

The program in Mali has failed to get off the ground as the new civilian government struggles to recover from a coup.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, is spending nearly $15 million in Niger on a new counterterrorism unit there, the Times said, and $29 million in Mauritania.

Related Video

Seoul (AFP) - A fire tore through a hospice for the elderly in South Korea early Wednesday, killing 21 people -- the latest in series of deadly accidents following last month's ferry disaster that claimed around 300 lives.

"We have recovered 21 bodies and seven people were injured, some of them in a serious condition," a fire department official told AFP from Jangseong County, about 190 miles (300 kilometres) south of Seoul.

Although the fire was brought under control within 30 minutes, the official said many elderly patients on the second floor of the hospice were bedridden and unable to escape in time.

"Most of them died as the result of smoke inhalation," he said.

TV reports cited local officials as saying only one nurse was on duty, caring for more than 70 people -- including stroke victims and patients with Alzheimer's.

The nurse was also reportedly killed in the blaze.

View gallery

A fire tore through a hospice for the elderly in South Korea early Wednesday, killing 21 people -- t …

The fact that most of the victims were sick and elderly will fuel debate about lax safety standards for vulnerable people following the Sewol ferry tragedy in which most of the victims were schoolchildren.

Seven people were injured in the hospice -- with six in a critical condition, prompting fears the toll could rise.

It was the second deadly blaze in South Korea in two days after seven people were killed and 41 injured in a fire at a bus terminal near Seoul on Monday.

That fire was believed to have been sparked by welding work at an underground restaurant.

The country is still reeling from the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16.

View gallery

Map locating Jangseong county in South Korea where 21 people were killed in a fire at a hospice for …

The loss of so many young lives triggered a bout of intense soul-searching in a country that had, until now, taken enormous pride in its extraordinarily rapid transformation from a war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Investigations into the ferry disaster have suggested it was almost wholly man-made: the result of cut corners, regulatory violations, poor safety training and a woeful lack of oversight -- all, or nearly all, attributable to a desire to maximise profits.

Families of the victims have criticised nearly every aspect of the government's handling of the disaster, with some taking their protests to the doors of the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

In an address to the nation last week, President Park Geun-Hye tearfully accepted responsibility for the disaster and vowed to improve safety standards.

She also promised harsh penalties for those found guilty of criminal negligence in the wake of fatal accidents.

The hospice fire will be investigated to determine whether the building met structural safety standards and whether staffing levels were adequate.

A blaze sweeps through a facility occupied by patients in their 70s and 80s, according to a news report.
Six in critical condition

CBSTV Videos

Nigerian military says it knows where kidnapped girls are

View gallery

Nigeria's chief of defense staff Air Marshal Alex S. Badeh, centre, speaks during a demonstratio …

Washington (AFP) - The United States expressed skepticism Tuesday that more than 200 schoolgirls held by Boko Haram militants had been located by Nigeria, stating that it had no "independent information" on the matter.

The country's highest ranking military officer on Monday said that Nigeria had located the missing teenagers, kidnapped mid-April by the armed militant group.

But one day later, US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki told journalists that the there was no "independent information from the United States to support these reports."

Asked whether she found it "smart" of Nigerian officials to announce they had found the girls -- in the event that they had been located -- Psaki responded that "for the girls' safety and wellbeing, we certainly would not discuss publicly this sort of information."

With 80 US military personnel sent to neighboring Chad for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the United States is the biggest foreign participant in the effort against Boko Haram.

Washington has also deployed surveillance drones, spy planes and about 30 civilian and military specialists to support Nigeria's security forces.

US authorities have previously expressed doubt that Abuja has the capacity to conduct the rescue mission.

State Department and Pentagon officials as well as members of Congress have chided Nigeria for what they called a slow response to the crisis and for human rights violations of which its army is accused.

The Nigerian military says the kidnapped girls have been located, but the U.S. says that hasn't been verified.
Drones deployed

A man walks past burnt vehicles and trucks at a fuel market hit by a car bomb in the Maarat Al-Naasan area of Idlib May 28, 2014. More than 10 people were killed in the attack, according to activists. REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government agencies were examining social media postings purporting to show how an American who was fighting with an Al Qaeda affiliate blew himself up recently in a suicide attack in northern Syria, U.S. officials said.

The officials, who declined to be identified, said U.S. agencies assessed that the postings were likely authentic. One said some investigators believed they knew the "U.S. person's" true identity, but declined to give further details.

According to internet postings, the suicide bomber, who called himself "Abu Hurayra al-Amriki" carried out one of four suicide bombings on May 25 in Syria's Idlib province on behalf of Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda's affiliate fighting to oust the government of President Bashar al Assad.

If his identity is confirmed, he would be the first American known to have committed a suicide bombing in Syria on behalf of al Qaeda, said Laith Alkhouri, a senior analyst with Flashpoint Global Partners, which monitors militant websites for government and private clients.

Alkhouri said social media postings, including Twitter messages and a video posted on YouTube, showed Abu Hurayra posing in a still picture with three other suicide bombers, one of whom was Syrian. The other two were foreigners.

View gallery

Free Syrian Army fighters hold their weapons as they walk in the Aleppo countryside May 26, 2014. Pi …

The video shows a truck-sized vehicle being loaded with explosives and then cuts to a long-shot of a fortress-like structure on top of a hill being blown up.

Shiraz Maher, a researcher with a University of London think tank, said that last week, an al Qaeda media outlet issued a short promotional video about a forthcoming film related to an "American" fighter in Syria.

The teaser, which opens with a graphic of a burning American flag and an exhortation to "Join the Caravan of Jihad and Martyrdom," promotes a longer video featuring "The story of an American Muhajir (visitor) in Sham (Syria)."

The short video includes a brief sound bite in which a man with an American or Canadian accent, whose face is blurred, declares: "It is huq (right) on you to fight."

Maher, whose think tank has studied the role of social media in recruiting foreigners to join militant groups in Syria, said he had spoken to a British fighter in Syria who confirmed the suicide bomber was American and described him as "a beautiful brother."

One Twitter message included a picture of a man identified as Abu Hurayra holding a kitten, as well as pictures of the booby-trapped truck and an explosion.

Two officials said the FBI and Justice Department were aware of the case.

(Editing by David Storey and Bernadette Baum)

U.S. probe on alleged American suicide bomber