A French soldier was killed in Iraq on Sunday “during an operational exercise” while taking part in an instruction mission for the Iraqi armed forces, the Elysée announced on Monday.
A French soldier was killed in Iraq on Sunday “during an operational exercise” while taking part in an instruction mission for the Iraqi armed forces, the Elysée announced on Monday. “Warrant Officer Nicolas Latourte”, of the 6th Engineer Regiment, “lost his life in the performance of his mission”, declared on X (formerly Twitter) President Emmanuel Macron, stressing that this death occurred a few days after that of Sergeant Baptiste Gauchot in a traffic accident, also in Iraq.
“The Nation is associated with the immense pain of their families and brothers in arms of the 19ᵉ and 6ᵉ engineer regiments”, added the Head of State. The soldier was taking part in Operation Chammal, the French component of the operation of the international coalition Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State group, created in 2014.
“He was taking part in a training mission for the Iraqi army. To tirelessly fight against terrorism”, underlined for his part the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, in a message on X. No more ground operations are led by the coalition since January 2022, also specifies the ministry’s website. Some 600 French soldiers are currently deployed there, according to the same source. The mission focuses on “military air and sea support to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)” as well as advising the Iraqi Armed Forces.