Bodies of four French troops return home from Afghanistan

PARIS: The bodies of four French soldiers were flown home Sunday, two days after their deaths at the hands of an Afghan soldier led President Nicolas Sarkozy to threaten to pull his forces out of Afghanistan.

French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet, who flew out to Afghanistan after the killings, accompanied the coffins which were draped in the French flag as they arrived at a Paris airport shortly before midnight.

Fifteen French troops were wounded in the attack by an Afghan soldier who shot dead the four unarmed soldiers at a base where they were having a joint sports session on Friday.

Twelve of the wounded soldiers were flown home on Saturday. Two others remain hospitalised at Bagram Air Base while one is being treated at the French military hospital in Kabul.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reacted angrily, threatening to pull his forces out of Afghanistan ahead of the 2014 deadline for all US-led coalition combat troops, and dispatched Longuet to Kabul.