SUROBI, Afghanistan — Insurgents mounted two of the biggest attacks in years on Western forces in Afghanistan, killing 10 French soldiers in a mountain ambush and then sending a squad of suicide bombers in a failed assault early Tuesday on a U.S. base near the Pakistan border.
Only months ago, militants shied away from large-scale attacks because of the heavy losses they could incur when jet fighters appeared overhead, NATO and U.S. officials said.
But the Taliban and other militant groups appear increasingly willing to commit large numbers of foot soldiers to onslaughts that attempt to overwhelm small groups of U.S. and NATO troops. Just last month, about 200 militants attacked a small U.S. outpost in Afghanistan’s eastern mountains, penetrating its perimeter and killing nine American soldiers.
The French soldiers were on a reconnaissance mission when they were ambushed Monday afternoon by a force of about 100 militants in the mountains of Surobi, 30 miles east of the Afghan capital of Kabul.
France’s top military official, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, said most of the French casualties came in the minutes after the soldiers ascended a mountain pass. Battles ensued and 21 French soldiers were wounded.
The French defense minister said about 30 militants were killed and 30 wounded, while Afghan officials said at least 13 militants were killed.
The casualties prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to immediately board a plane for Afghanistan. France is sending 700 more soldiers there this month, which will bring the country’s force in Afghanistan to 2,600.
The suicide attack Tuesday on Camp Salerno, the U.S. base that serves as the logistics hub for the war’s eastern front, began just after midnight when a team of attackers dressed in military fatigues was spotted on the horizon.
Afghan and U.S. forces confronted the militants about 1,000 yards from the base entrance, while fighter aircraft attacked from the air. Once surrounded, three suicide bombers blew themselves up, and three more were shot to death, NATO said in a statement. It said a seventh militant was also killed and two NATO soldiers were wounded.
Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said six militants blew themselves up when cornered and seven other militants died in the explosions and a rolling gunbattle. Five Afghan soldiers were wounded, he said.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said 15 militants were dispatched for the attack, and seven blew themselves up, while eight returned to a Taliban safehouse. Mujahid also claimed responsibility for the attack on the French troops.
This year will likely be the deadliest for international troops since the 2001 invasion. About 178 international soldiers, including about 96 Americans, have died in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count. That pace should far surpass the record 222 international troop deaths in 2007.
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