Two French soldiers died and a third was wounded in a firefight with former rebels in Ivory Coast.
The men were attacked by Lake Kossou, near the central town of Sakassou, by rebels who appeared to be drunk, Colonel Christian Battiste, spokesman for the French army headquarters in Paris said.
They are the first French combat deaths in the troubled West African state.
However, Colonel Battiste said yesterday's gunbattle was an isolated incident and said the majority of the rebel New Forces were co-operating with the peace effort.
French and regional peacekeepers are patrolling a front line between the government-held south and the rebel-held north of Ivory Coast, following a civil war sparked by a failed coup in September 2002. Thousands died in the fighting.
