Two Kurdish fighters killed and two members of French special forces seriously injured when intercepted craft exploded

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A booby-trapped drone launched by Islamic State militants killed two peshmerga fighters and wounded two French soldiers this month north of the Isis-controlled city of Mosul, French and Kurdish officials have said.

The drone exploded when peshmerga fighters tried to lift it after it crashed, said Jabbar al-Yawar, secretary general of the autonomous Kurdish region’s defence ministry. “It seems it was booby-trapped.”

Le Monde reported on Tuesday that the drone had been intercepted in flight on 2 October and exploded near the Kurdish and French soldiers when it hit the ground. It was unclear, the French paper said, whether the drone was remotely detonated or carried a timed bomb.

Yawar, speaking from Irbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, said the French soldiers had been training Kurdish fighters near the site of the drone crash, close to the town of Dohuk.

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Peshmerga forces plan to take part in a US-backed Iraqi military offensive to remove Isis from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the last urban centre still under the jihadi group’s control in Iraq after a series of government offensives to reverse the jihadis’ lightning seizure of territory in 2014.

The US-led coalition against Isis includes military contingents from France, the UK, Canada and other western countries.

The two wounded French soldiers were immediately returned to France for medical treatment. One of them was “between life and death”, according to Le Monde. It said other French soldiers were also lightly injured by the blast but gave no further details.

The French defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday that two special forces members had been injured.

France has about 500 troops in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition, including special forces that have been training peshmerga forces.

In anticipation of the offensive to dislodge Isis from Mosul, jihadi militants have placed booby traps across the city, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies, according to Iraqi and US officials.

It has been feared for some time that Isis has been using commercially available drones rigged with improvised explosive devices to stage attacks.