A former US Army sniper has recounted an extraordinary story about an alleged secret military operation near Area 51 in Nevada, claiming that American troops killed three reptilian-looking beings during an underground confrontation in which one US serviceman allegedly died.

Nick Betts, co-host of the Liberty Risk podcast, said an unnamed member of the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) told him about the alleged encounter. According to Betts, the serviceman described a mission inside an underground facility after military personnel reportedly lost contact with another team.

The story has attracted fresh attention online in October 2026, although the podcast episode in which Betts discussed the account was published in December 2025. Neither the alleged encounter nor the reported deaths have been independently verified, and Betts has acknowledged that he was not present during the operation.

What did Nick Betts claim happened near Area 51?

According to Betts, the account came from a conversation in Poland while he was working on a documentary about the war in Ukraine. He said the man who described the operation claimed to have served in an elite military unit.

The unnamed source allegedly told Betts that troops were sent to investigate an underground installation after routine radio communications stopped and an earlier quick-reaction team failed to return.

The soldiers were reportedly issued directed-energy weapons rather than conventional firearms before entering a network of underground tunnels.

Betts said the source described the encounter as a confrontation with a bipedal div that looked “mildly reptilian” and appeared to be carrying a weapon similar to those used by the soldiers.

“They said that they f****** shot this creature that was bipedal, mildly reptilian-looking but had fingers, and was using this weapon system,” Betts said during the podcast.

These details remain part of a secondhand account. No independently verifiable operational records, photographs or identifiable witnesses have been presented to substantiate the story.

Alleged deaths and claims of a cover-up

Betts claimed that the alleged confrontation turned deadly after one American serviceman was struck in the chest by a weapon carried by one of the beings.

According to the account, the other soldiers returned fire and eventually killed three reptilian-looking creatures.

The story also included an allegation that the deceased soldier’s body was cremated at the site, despite objections from colleagues who reportedly cited his Catholic beliefs.

Betts said his source claimed that officials subsequently described the death as a training accident in which the serviceman’s body had been incinerated.

However, no independently verified military casualty record, investigation report or other documentary evidence has been produced to establish that the alleged death or cover-up occurred.

The account therefore remains an unsubstantiated claim rather than a confirmed military incident.

Betts says he was warned against discussing the story

Betts also described an alleged confrontation that he said made him take the account more seriously.

He said that after hearing the story during an evening in Poland, he asked another person who had allegedly participated in the operation about extraterrestrials the following morning.

According to Betts, the man grabbed him by the neck, pushed him against a wall and warned him not to discuss the subject again.

“I would have chalked it up to the wine if it wasn’t for being choke-slammed up against a f****** wall in the morning at 6am,” Betts said.

He acknowledged that the original conversation took place while the people involved had been drinking. Betts maintained that the man telling the story appeared coherent, but the reported confrontation has not been independently corroborated.

Neither the alleged warning nor the account of the underground operation provides independent evidence that the claimed encounter took place.

What is Area 51, and why is it linked to aliens?

Area 51 is a real, highly restricted US military testing facility near Groom Lake in Nevada. Its secrecy has made it a longstanding focus of speculation about UFOs, extraterrestrial technology and alleged government cover-ups.

Declassified CIA records document a different, verifiable history. The facility was used to test secret reconnaissance aircraft, including the U-2 and A-12 OXCART, during the Cold War.

The aircraft operated at unusual altitudes and speeds for their time, and their classified missions contributed to reports of unidentified objects in the sky. The CIA has explained that flights by the U-2 and later OXCART accounted for a substantial share of UFO reports during the late 1950s and 1960s.

Although Area 51’s history includes classified military programmes, that does not establish the existence of underground alien facilities or the alleged battle described by Betts.

Has the US government confirmed extraterrestrial encounters?

No publicly available evidence has verified the specific encounter described by Betts.

In its 2024 historical review, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) said it found no evidence that US government investigations, academic research or official review panels had confirmed that any reported unidentified anomalous phenomenon represented extraterrestrial technology.

The report acknowledged that some sightings remain unresolved, often because investigators lack sufficient or reliable data. An unidentified observation, however, does not establish an extraterrestrial origin.

The review does not independently disprove every unverified story about classified military facilities. But it provides no support for treating the claims about reptilian beings near Area 51 as established fact.

An extraordinary story without independent evidence

Betts’s account combines familiar elements of Area 51 mythology: a secret underground facility, specialised weapons, missing military personnel and an alleged effort to conceal evidence of an extraterrestrial encounter.

Its central weakness is the lack of independent corroboration. Betts was not an eyewitness, his principal source has not been publicly identified, and no verifiable records have been presented to establish the alleged deaths or military operation.

For now, the story remains an extraordinary claim circulating through podcasts and media reports, not a confirmed revelation about Area 51. The facility’s documented history of classified aviation research helps explain its reputation, but the alleged encounter with reptilian beings remains unsupported by publicly available evidence.