Two French soldiers have been killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, the French Defence Ministry said today, the latest casualties in the bloodiest stretch of violence since the Taliban were overthrown five years ago.
A ministry official said the soldiers were on patrol with special forces when a bomb exploded and "extremists" opened fire with light weapons in an ambush 38 kilometres from Mihtarlam, capital of the eastern province of Laghman.
Two other French soldiers were wounded. They were in stable condition.
Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase since US-led troops drove the Taliban from power after the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States.
About 2,000 people, most of them militants but also including civilians, Afghan forces, aid workers and more than 90 foreign soldiers, have been killed in violence this year.
The violence involves a mixture of opposition to foreign and government forces, tribe wars, the illegal drugs trade and crime.
The insurgency is concentrated in the south and east, mostly in provinces bordering Pakistan, the Taliban's one-time backer.
Since the summer of 2003, some 200 French special forces have been operating in Afghanistan and fighting the Taliban under US command.
The losses came as France pledged a total 2,000 troops to a UN force in Lebanon to beef up a revamped force aimed at maintaining a truce between Israel and Hizbollah.
France's initial reluctance to send a large contingent disappointed many UN diplomats and Italy is to take over leadership of the force. Separately, NATO forces killed seven insurgents in an artillery strike in the southern province of Helmand yesterday, a statement by NATO said.