Articles | Nato repulses major Taliban attack

Sarkozy flies to Afghanistan

Published: Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 8:37AM

President Nicolas Sarkozy will head to Afghanistan after ten French soldiers died and 21 were wounded in a clash with Taliban insurgents.

The soldiers, from three elite paratroop and marine regiments, were killed in a fierce battle when their unit was ambushed on a reconnaissance mission in the Sarobi district, some 60 km (40 miles) east of Kabul on Monday.

The attack on Camp Salerno, close to the Pakistan border and the main hub for Isaf and US-led coalition forces operating in southeastern Afghanistan, is the most brazen on a major foreign base for some time.

A group of 30 Taliban fighters attacked the camp overnight but Nato troops pushed back the attack with air support.

In a statement Mr Sarkozy said: "My determination is intact. France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just. It is an honour for France and its army to defend it."

The loss is the worst suffered by the French army in a single incident since 58 paratroops were killed by a suicide bomber in Lebanon in 1983 and the worst in combat with enemy forces since the Algerian war that ended in 1962.

France has a total of 2,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, serving with Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the US-led Enduring Freedom mission and involved in peacekeeping, combat and training operations.

The United States and Britain expressed sympathy and solidarity with France while stressing that the effort in Afghanistan continued.

"It's a difficult time for France, but the French have issued a statement saying they plan to stay the course in Afghanistan," US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Theirs was a sacrifice not just for France but for all of us who want to help the Afghan people build a better future for themselves."

The news came as Isaf troops repulsed a Taliban attack on the main US base in southeastern Afghanistan. The Afghan Defence Ministry said 13 suicide bombers were killed as troops repelled waves of attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen.

One US soldier was reportedly killed and four Afghan troops were wounded in the fighting.

Elsewhere in the country, a suicide bomber targeted a group of Canadian soldiers from the Nato-led force in Kandahar, killing an Afghan translator and wounding a soldier and a local girl.

More than ten insurgents were killed and a similar number wounded in a clash in southern Helmand province, the Afghan Defence Ministry said.

Pakistani security forces killed at least 20 Islamist militants in a clash in Bajaur tribal region, a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border, a government official said.