French soldier killed in drone attack in Iraqi Kurdistan: Macron

BAGHDAD/PARIS - An attack killed a French soldier in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said on March 13.

A member of the armed forces “died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq,” Mr Macron posted on X, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war that began late last month when Israel and the United States struck Iran.

Mr Macron added that several other soldiers had been wounded in the incident, which the French military earlier said was a drone attack on troops carrying out a training exercise.

The French army had earlier said that six French soldiers providing counter-terrorism training in northern Iraq were wounded after a drone attack in the Erbil region of Iraq, just hours after an Italian base was also targeted in the area.

France has hundreds of troops based in the Erbil region as part of a broader international coalition to fight Islamic State militants in the area.

It was not immediately clear where the drone had come from.

Iraqi Shi’ite militants have picked up the pace of drone and missile attacks on US interests in Iraq in the last three to four days, according to three Iraqi security sources and two sources close to the groups.

“Today, six French soldiers providing counter-terrorism training to Iraqi partners were wounded after a drone attack in the Erbil region of Iraq,” the French army said in a statement, adding that they had been taken to the nearest medical facility.

The statement did not provide further details on the nature of their injuries or the origins of the drone.

An officer from the regional Kurdish Peshmerga forces said the wounded soldiers were stationed at the base where coalition forces are based.

Erbil Governor Omed Koshnaw said in a statement that the drone attack was in the Makhmour area.

An overnight airstrike that hit an Italian military base in Iraqi Kurdistan was deliberate, the Italian defence ministry said earlier on March 12, targeting a facility hosting NATO personnel.

France is deploying about a dozen naval vessels, including its aircraft carrier strike group, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea and potentially the Strait of Hormuz as part of defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict in the Middle East. AFP, REUTERS