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Ten
French soldiers have been killed fighting Taliban forces outside Kabul.
Four of them were executed after being taken hostage during
the two-day battle in the Surobi district 30 miles from the capital.
The deaths almost double the overall French toll to 22. France has
around 1,600 troops with the Nato-led force in Afghanistan. France's
President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would fly to Kabul to meet troops
after the deaths.
A district chief in Surobi said a patrol of French soldiers came under
Taliban attack on Monday sparking a three-hour gun battle in which
13 militants were killed. France will have some 2,600 troops in Afghanistan
by the end of this month, after President Sarkozy pledged in April
to send more troops to eastern Afghanistan.
The French troops have been mostly based in Kabul up to now. The deaths
of 10 soldiers is the deadliest attack against international troops
since June 2005, when 16 American troops were killed in Kunar province
when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Mr Sarkozy said he was going to Kabul to assure French troops "that
France is at their sides". He said the troops were from the 8th
Infantry Parachute Regiment on a mission with the Afghan army.
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