French national among dead rebels in Iraq

A French citizen has been identified among radicals killed in fighting in Iraq - the first hard evidence that French Islamic radicals are participating in the insurgency against US occupation forces, it was reported today.

French intelligence first learned in July that a French citizen of Tunisian origin had been killed in the rebel-held city of Fallujah. Identified only as 19-year-old Redouane, he was killed in a July 17 bombardment.

Investigators later learned that his brother, a 21-year-old identified only as Boubaker, left the Paris region for Syria to study language and religion. He was kicked out of Syria in May 2003 and went to Tunisia before returning to France.

He then returned to Syria and was arrested. Redouane made it to Fallujah, where he was killed, Le Figaro said. Boubaker remains detained in Syria.

Investigators have not confirmed the existence of a formal network of French radicals in Iraq, the newspaper said. But at least two French citizens were thought to still be in Fallujah, and perhaps a dozen more have at least tried to reach the city. Most are of Tunisian origin and lived in the Paris region, the newspaper said.

The mostly Sunni city of Fallujah – a city operating outside the control of the US-backed central government – is located 40 miles west of Baghdad.