French soldier killed in anti-ISIS operation in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24 ) – A French soldier was killed in an anti-ISIS operation in Iraq on Monday, marking the third military officer of the European country to have been killed in the country in less than a month, according to the French Presidency Office.

Sergeant Nicolas Mazier, a French paratrooper, was killed while assisting an Iraqi unit in an operation against the so-called Islamic State, a statement from Elysée read.

French President Emmanuel Macron extended his condolences to the soldier’s family and loved ones on X, the newly rebranded social platform, known previously as Twitter.

Other French soldiers were wounded along with their Iraqi comrades, according to the AFP, without elaborating further on the number of the injured troops.

The French and Iraqi forces were ambushed by ISIS in northeastern Kirkuk, bordering Saladin province on Monday, the French news agency added. They were engaged in a confrontation lasting “more than five hours”.

Mazier is the latest French causality in Iraq following two other deaths among the troops in August.

The French troops have been an integral part of the US-led Coalition against ISIS since 2014 as part of Operation Chammal.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and President Nechirvan Barzani have previously extended their condolences on the death of the French soldier on Aug. 19. He died in a car accident.