Afghan Soldier Kills 4 French Troops, France Suspends Training

Four French soldiers were shot dead and 16 were wounded by a member of the Afghan army in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, a NATO spokesman and Afghan officials said.

"A man wearing Afghan army uniform opened fire on French nationals killing four and injuring 16 others this morning in Tagab district of Kapisa province," a security official told Agence France Presse.

A spokesman for NATO forces said four NATO troops were killed and the shooter had been arrested, but did not give the nationality of the troops.

"Four International Security Assistance Force service members were killed today in eastern Afghanistan by a member of the Afghan National Army," the U.S.-led force said in a statement.

French troops had surrounded their base in Kapisa and were not allowing any Afghan soldiers to approach, a security source told AFP.

Later Friday, France suspended all training and joint operations in Afghanistan and President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was mulling an early withdrawal.

"The French army is alongside its allies but we cannot accept that a single one of our soldiers be wounded or killed by our allies, it's unacceptable," Sarkozy said.

He dispatched Defense Minister Gerard Longuet to Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also said that France wants "credible assurances" about Afghan recruits or the withdrawal of French troops will be accelerated.

Without "credible assurances that our own soldiers have sufficient security conditions then we will draw conclusions... including the acceleration of a complete withdrawal of our contingent set for the end of 2013," Juppe said.

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to the French people and said: "France has provided considerable help to Afghanistan in the past 10 years, and the relations between the two countries has always been based on honesty."

There has been a number of incidents of Afghan soldiers turning their weapons on members of the 130,000-strong foreign force fighting an insurgency by hardline Taliban Islamists.

Last month, two soldiers with the French Foreign Legion serving in Afghanistan were shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform during a mission in Kapisa, site of the main French base in Afghanistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.

The latest deaths brought to 82 the number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since French forces deployed there at the end of 2001. Last year was been the bloodiest so far, with 26 killed.

France has about 3,600 soldiers serving in the country, mainly in the provinces of Kabul and Kapisa.