A member of an elite French commando unit was killed on Monday, August 28, in Iraq while "supporting an Iraqi unit in an anti-terrorist operation," the French presidency said.
Sergeant Nicolas Mazier, an air force paratrooper, "fell in combat while carrying out his mission," the Elysee said in a statement, expressing French President Emmanuel Macron's "profound respect" for his "sacrifice." Other soldiers from the unit were also wounded, the Elysée added.
An Iraqi security source in northeastern Kirkuk told Agence France-Presse Iraqi and French troops were ambushed by Islamic State group fighters late on Monday in a neighboring province.
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 lose his life this month in Iraq, where the country's troops form part of Operation Inherent Resolve, a years-long campaign by an international coalition against Islamic State.
Two men, Sergeant Baptiste Gauchot and Officer Nicolas Latourte, were killed in separate incidents in August, the first in a traffic accident and the second during a training exercise.
Around 600 French troops across the Levant and Gulf region are involved in Inherent Resolve.