French, Iraqi journalists killed in Mosul mine blast

PARIS – A French video journalist and an Iraqi colleague have been killed in a mine blast while covering the operation to root out Islamic State extremists from Mosul.

State-owned France Televisions said in a statement Tuesday that it “regrets to announce the death of Stephan Villeneuve, following a mine explosion in Mosul.” It said he had covered numerous conflicts, and expressed condolences to his wife Sophie and his four children.

Villeneuve was reporting for an investigative news program called Envoye Special aired by France-2 television. The network would not comment further.

Iraqi media reported that Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiyar Haddad was also killed while working for the French team as a fixer and interpreter. His funeral was shown on Iraqi television Monday night.