Taleban insurgents killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle east of the Afghan capital, the French president's office said on Tuesday, the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat since 2001. The Taleban have gradually closed in on Kabul in the past year, making travel south, west or east of the capital extremely hazardous for troops, aid workers and civilians and spreading fear among the populace. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to travel to Afghanistan on Tuesday in response to the attack, his office said. “My determination is intact. France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just,” Sarkozy said in the statement. The French soldiers were killed in a major battle that erupted when Taleban insurgents ambushed their reconnaissance patrol from three sides in the Sarobi district of Kabul province about 60 km east of Kabul on Monday, officials said. Significant air support was used to extract the units from an extremely violent ambush, the French presidency said. France has 1,670 troops with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, after Sarkozy sent an extra 700 soldiers this year in response to a US call for its NATO allies to send more forces to check a surge in violence. Only 12 French troops had previously died in Afghanistan since US-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taleban in 2001. The 10 dead and 21 wounded soldiers were from the 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and the Regiment de marche du Tchad, a mechanised marine unit. The Afghan Defense Ministry said 27 insurgents have been killed or wounded in the fighting and at least two Afghan soldiers have been wounded. The Taleban said on its Web site that 20 US soldiers had been killed in the fighting, which they said erupted after militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan and foreign forces late on Monday. That claim could not be immediately verified. More foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the past three months than in Iraq where the United States has twice as many soldiers than all the international forces fighting the Taleban.
