US embassy employee killed in Niger

The United States embassy in Niger says an American defence department employee has been killed and another seriously wounded during an attempted robbery.

The embassy said the two men were in a group of embassy personnel leaving a restaurant in the capital, Niamey, when they were confronted by two gunmen.

The dead man, retired army master-sergeant, William Bultemeier, had been at the embassy for five months and was leading the effort to re-establish a US defence department office at the embassy.

His injured colleague Marine staff sergeant Christopher McNeely was flown to a US air base in Germany for treatment.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service