"During a support mission with the Afghan National Army (ANA) in the Tagab valley, the two non-commissioned officers were mortally wounded by deliberate fire from an Afghan soldier," said a memo issued by the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two soldiers shot in Kapisa province by a man dressed as an Afghan soldier were French nationals and members of the French Foreign Legion, as confirmed by the French government on Thursday.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack – the latest in a string of recent bloody events.

The French press agency AFP quotes Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying on their website: "Ibrahim (the soldier)... achieved his aim by taking out three French invading troops and wounding a number of them after he opened fire." Mujahid added that the perpetrator was also killed.

Two days earlier, three NATO troops were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban also claimed to have carried out this attack.

The newest incident brings the number of French troops killed this year to 26, and the total number of French casualties since the war started in 2001 to nearly 80, according to the American press agency, AP.

In 2011, over 540 NATO troops were killed in attacks – a considerable decrease from 2010, which brought over 700 casualties.

Troops in disguise

There has been a series of attacks on foreign troops carried out by men dressed as Afghan security forces.

In Farah province last week, an Afghan soldier was killed after opening fire on US troops.

One of the biggest of such attacks was carried out in April, 2011, when an Afghan officer killed eight American troops and a US contractor at Kabul airport.

Taliban attacks on Afghans

But it is not only foreign troops who are targeted by Taliban militants. Earlier Thursday, 10 members of the US-funded Afghan Local Police (ALP) were killed by a bomb explosion in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province, as confirmed by the provincial governor's spokesman Daud Ahmadi.

The ALP was set up last year under US General David Petraeus as a scheme to hand over security to the Afghan government by 2014, when foreign troops are due to withdraw.

It arms and pays Afghan civilians to defend their remote villages against insurgents.

While proponents of the ALP point to their effectiveness in some areas, critics refer to it as a militia with no law enforcement powers that is vulnerable to corruption and penetration by criminals.

Author: Sarah Berning (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Editor: Arun Chowdhury