KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — In the worst loss of life for Western troops in ground combat with Taliban forces in Afghanistan, insurgents ambushed and killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a sustained assault outside the capital, military officials said Tuesday.
Separately, militants made an hours-long attempt to overrun a major U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan, employing an unnerving new tactic: multiple suicide bombers, three of whom blew themselves up in succession and three others who were shot by the base's defenders, according to a military official.
Taken together, the attacks against the French and American forces were a graphic demonstration of the growing reach and power of the Taliban and other Islamic militants in Afghanistan, where this year is fast becoming the most lethal for combatants and civilians alike since the fall of the Taliban to U.S.-led forces in 2001.
The pattern of militant strikes against Western troops over the course of the summer "fighting season" points to increased capacity and bolder ambition on the part of the insurgents, at a time when Afghanistan's central government, led by President Hamid Karzai, is facing a rising tide of popular discontent.
The attack on the French forces, in a rugged mountainous area about 30 miles east of Kabul, also heightened the sense of insecurity close to the capital. Last week, three Western female aid workers were shot to death in a Taliban ambush in Logar province, only about an hour's drive south of Kabul.
The initial ambush on a patrol of elite French reconnaissance forces in the Sarobi district of Kabul province took place late Monday and the fighting continued into Tuesday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. It said about 100 insurgents took part.
Operations involving large numbers of militants are a tactical departure for the insurgents, who generally have eschewed large-scale frontal assaults in favor of smaller hit-and-run attacks that allow them to melt away when NATO troops use their greatly superior firepower.
The high toll among the French forces occurred despite the quick deployment of reinforcements, including close air support and mobile medical units. Western military officials said a "large number" of insurgents were killed in the battle, but declined to provide a more specific figure.
In France, the loss of so many elite troops at one time dominated headlines and galvanized politicians.
