A member of an elite French commando unit was killed on Monday in Iraq while "supporting an Iraqi unit in an anti-terrorist operation", President Emmanuel Macron's office said Tuesday.
Sergeant Nicolas Mazier, an air force paratrooper, "fell in combat while carrying out his mission", the Élysée presidential palace said in a statement.
Macron expressed his condolences to Mazier’s loved ones and colleagues in a message posted on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Sergeant Nicolas Mazier was fighting for France, for our security. Fallen in Iraq, the whole nation mourns him,” said Macron.
An Iraqi security source in the northern city of Kirkuk said a joint operation by Iraqi counter-terror troops and French special forces stationed at the K1 base in Kirkuk was “ambushed" by Islamic State (IS) group militants, according to AFP.
In a battle lasting "more than five hours", an unknown number of French troops as well as three members of Iraq's anti-terrorist forces were wounded, the source added.
Mazier is the third French soldier to be killed in Iraq in recent days, following the death of a soldier during an operational exercise on August 21 and another soldier in a road accident on August 18.
Around 600 French troops are deployed in the region as part of Operation Chammal, the French military operation in Iraq and Syria against the IS group.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
