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Elsewhere in the country, in one of the most audacious attacks since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago, a team of suicide bombers attempted to storm American and Afghan National Army (ANA) bases near the eastern city of Khost, the second major assault on the position in less than 24 hours.
In the past three days, more than 100 people have died in fighting and bomb attacks around the country. "We had an okay winter and a good spring but we are having a tough summer," said an official from Nato's International Security Assistance Force.
The French casualties appear to have come after a joint Isaf and ANA patrol was ambushed yesterday afternoon in the Spir Kundi district of Kabul province, 20 miles north-east of the town of Sorobi, a strategic bottleneck on the crucial road linking the capital to the city of Jalalabad near the Pakistani border.
The deaths are likely to cause uproar in France. Sarkozy has taken French foreign policy in a radically more pro-American direction than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, and has stressed France's commitment to the military and reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. Since 2002 the French have contributed a 1,000 men to the Isaf force patrolling Kabul but the new troops were the first to be committed to combat operations.
The French deployment was originally planned for the south of Afghanistan where fighting has been fiercest. Before this latest incident, 14 French soldiers had been killed since their initial deployment. Overall 176 foreign soldiers have died this year.
A Taliban spokesman claimed today that the insurgents had inflicted "heavy losses" on Nato troops. "This morning we ambushed Nato troops in Sorobi district using mines and rockets. We destroyed five vehicles," Zabihullah Mujahed told the AFP news agency.
Taliban spokesman routinely exaggerate numbers or fabricate claims of civilian casualties, but the loss of the French troops will hand a major propaganda victory to the insurgents. The lightly armed Taliban have often suffered heavy casualties whenever they have risked a formal engagement with western troops, preferring to avoid direct confrontation.
Fighting continued overnight and into this morning though local officials said that the clash was over by early afternoon. Afghan officials said that three ANA had been injured and dozens of Taliban militants killed.
"Recently Isaf and ANA deployed into area and started going on patrol. This was their third patrol and it came under attack yesterday afternoon and it lasted several hours. There were [coalition] air bombardments but it is an uninhabited area so we have no reports of civilian casualties," Qazi Suleiman, the district chief, told the Guardian.
Abdul Wahed, provincial councillor from Sorobi, said the fighting today lasted three or four hours.
The propaganda value of the battle will be enhanced by its proximity to the capital. The engagement is the first major clash to take place within Kabul province itself. Last week an attack on aid workers in Logar province and strikes on convoys in Wardak province to the south of the capital revealed the growing presence the fragmented alliance of groups that comprise the Taliban have been able to established in areas previously considered under government control.
Kabul has seen a huge security operation in recent days aimed at preventing an attack on the Afghanistan's Independence Day on Monday.
However the problem merely seems to have been displaced. The rugged plateaux and valleys to the north and east of Kabul has become increasingly problematic in recent months with growing numbers of attacks on convoys on the road to Jalalabad. In one incident last week near Sorobi, insurgents stopped traffic on the road and torched coalition fuel tankers.
Accounts of the incident at the US and ANA military bases near Khost differ. However, Arsala Jamal, the governor of Khost province, said that 10 suicide bombers had been killed along with one ANA soldier. Jamal described a complex and ambitious operation involving two waves of attacks late on Monday night and again yesterday morning, with teams of suicide bombers backed by conventional fighters. "Militarily this was very stupid," he said. "The Taliban wanted to show off to the world with a spectacular strike."
Isaf officials insist that the campaign against the insurgents cannot be won purely by military means. Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, Isaf spokesperson said the French casualties "would not deter Isaf from supporting the people of Afghanistan in their fight against the enemies of peace and stability".
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