afp - 3 french soldiers were killed within a lightning storm for the period of a nighttime operation targeting taliban bomb squads within a valley east of kabul, the french military reported sunday.
one man was killed by lightning and two others drowned, mentioned admiral christophe prazuck, spokesman for the french armed forces general staff, taking the toll among the french military in afghanistan to 34.
they were part of a 250-troop operation hunting fighters responsible for planting roadside bombs in kapisa province east of kabul, the spokesman mentioned.
the joint french and afghan operation,
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another soldier was swept off a footpath by a flooding river while medics attended to the lighting victim, and a third was carried off as he tried to rescue his comrade.
"the pair have been found drowned at dawn,
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the victims have been a flight sergeant and a corporal of the 13th parachutist special forces regiment, and an airman of the 3rd marine infantry regiment.
all three have been stationed at the nijrab forward operating base in kapisa province,
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president nicolas sarkozy's office issued a statement saying the head of state "shares in the pain of the families and their loved ones. he offers them his sad condolences."
"they paid with their lives to honour france's commitment to bring peace and security to the afghan people," reported the statement, stressing france's "determination to work to restore peace and development in afghanistan."
defence minister herve morin, who visited the nijrab base earlier this month, voiced his "great emotion" at the men's deaths.
france has now lost 34 soldiers in afghanistan,
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paris pulled out most of its special forces from afghanistan in 2006, but around 60 operatives remain stationed in the country on commando training and intelligence missions, prazuck stated.
afghanistan had been hit hard by a renewed taliban insurgency, which has paralysed a western-backed reconstruction drive, cost the lives of thousands of people, and bogged nato and us troops down in a nearly eight-year conflict.
this year has been the deadliest for the 100,000 foreign troops in afghanistan since us-led forces ousted the taliban from kabul following the september 11, 2001 attacks in the united states.
a british soldier was killed in a roadside explosion while patrolling in southern afghanistan, the ministry of defence claimed sunday, a day after nato announced the death of four us soldiers in two attacks in afghanistan's southern taliban stronghold.