Six French soldiers wounded in Iraq after drone attack, army says

BAGHDAD/PARIS, March 12 (Reuters) – Six French soldiers providing counter-terrorism training in northern Iraq were wounded after a drone attack in the Erbil region of Iraq, France’s army said on Thursday, 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 U.S. 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 Thursday, 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.

(Reporting by John Irish and Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by David Gregorio)