French soldier killed in Iraq anti-terror operation
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A French air force paratrooper was killed in Iraq while assisting a dispatch of the Iraqi army in an anti-terror operation a day prior, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Tuesday.
Seargant Nicolas Mazier was killed “yesterday in Iraq while his unit was supporting an Iraqi unit in an anti-terrorist operation,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement.
This marks the third French soldier killed in Iraq in just over a week as France's armed forces continue to play a key role in training the Iraqi army in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) through Operation Chammal.
“The President of the Republic wishes to salute the courage of the French soldiers engaged in Iraq. It reaffirms France’s determination in its fight against terrorism alongside Iraq,” the statement said while sending condolences to Mazier’s loved ones.
Macron also expressed “his support for the men and women and in particular for Seargant Mazier’s comrades injured at his side.”
Minister of the French Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said that Mazier “came under enemy fire” during a counterterrorism mission in Iraq.
“Faced with terrorism, France will not back down,” Lecornu said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Seargant Nicolas Mazier was fighting for France, for our security. Fallen in Iraq, the whole nation mourns him,” Macron said on X.
France's chief of defense staff later on Tuesday released a statement saying that units of French and Iraqi soldiers were ambushed amid an anti-terror reconnaissance operation around 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, during which Mazier was killed in an exchange of fire.
“Four other French soldiers were injured during these clashes and were immediately given medical attention before being transported to an American military hospital in Baghdad,” the statement added.
On August 20, Nicolas Latourte, a French military officer, lost his life in Iraq while “carrying out his mission,” Macron said at the time.
His death followed that of Seargant Baptiste Gauchot, another French soldier who was killed in a traffic accident in Erbil on August 20 after his vehicle went off the road.
As a core member of the US-led global coalition against ISIS, France has trained about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers, including Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
During a visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region last month, Minister of the French Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu alongside Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad al-Abbasi announced that 80 French trainers will conduct a two-year training course for about 2,100 Iraqi soldiers, the equivalent of five “desert battalions.”
Updated at 2:55 pm with French chief of defense staff statement