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Insurgents ambush French unit in Afghan mountains, killing 10
Suicide bombers also try unsuccessfully to storm U.S. base
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Published: August 20, 2008
SUROBI, Afghanistan
Insurgents ambushed a group of elite French soldiers as it climbed a mountain pass, killing 10 soldiers in a militant stronghold outside the capital. In a separate coordinated attack, a team of suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
French paratroopers and a Foreign Legion soldier were among the dead -- the biggest single combat loss for international forces in Afghanistan in more than three years.
The group was on a reconnaissance mission in the Surobi district, about 30 miles east of the Afghan capital, when it was ambushed Monday afternoon, officials said yesterday. NATO sent backup and said that a "large number" of the attackers were killed in the hours-
long gunbattle.
France's top military official, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, said that most of the French casualties came in the minutes after the team was climbing a mountain pass. The fighting lasted into nightfall, he said.
"In its fight against terrorism, France has just been struck severely," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.
But he added, "My determination remains intact."
Qazi Suliman, the district chief in Surobi, said that 13 militants were reported killed.
Georgelin denied a statement from an Afghan security official that four French soldiers were kidnapped by insurgents and then killed.
President Bush, who was briefed at his Texas ranch about the deaths, sent his condolences to the families of the dead and wounded French soldiers.
A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said that Bush offered "heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice that they are making and the commitment that the French are making to help secure Afghanistan."
It was the deadliest attack against international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American troops were killed in Kunar province when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
In July of this year, nine U.S. troops died when insurgents attacked a base on the Kunar-Nuristan border in eastern Afghanistan.
The death toll could heighten domestic opposition to Sarkozy's plan to increase the French contingent by about 700 troops by the end of this month for a total of 2,600. Sarkozy said he plans to travel to Afghanistan to reassure French troops and that "France is at their sides."
In the attack on the U.S. base just a few miles from the border with Pakistan, militants failed to gain entry to Camp Salerno in Khost city after launching waves of attacks just before midnight Monday, said Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost.
A suicide bombing outside the same base Monday killed 10 civilians and wounded 13 others.
Ground forces, fighter aircraft and helicopters chased the retreating militants. NATO said its forces identified the attackers about 1,000 yards outside of the base perimeter and launched helicopter gunships.
Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said that Afghan soldiers, aided by U.S. troops, chased and surrounded a group of insurgents, and that six militants blew themselves up when cornered. Seven other militants died in those explosions and a rolling gunbattle, he said.
The Afghan National Army "is saying that anytime we get close to them, they detonate themselves," Jamal said.
NATO offered a slightly different account, saying that three suicide bombers detonated their vests and that three more were shot dead. NATO said that seven attackers in total were killed.
At least 13 insurgents and two Afghan civilians died, officials said.
The Taliban appeared to confirm the account. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said that 15 militants had been dispatched for the attack on Salerno. Seven blew themselves up, and eight returned to a Taliban safehouse, he said.
Jamal said that the bodies of at least two dead militants were outside the checkpoint leading to the base's airport, both wearing vests packed with explosives.
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