KABUL, Afghanistan — A blast killed a French soldier walking with other troops from their Afghan base to a firing range, and a grenade attack on a wedding party killed eight people, officials said Saturday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office called the bomb attack a “deadly trap” laid against the soldiers.
But a French military spokesman told The Associated Press that it was unclear whether the mine that exploded Saturday was planted by insurgents fighting the Western-backed government. Afghanistan remains littered with old mines from decades of fighting.
In Parwan province, about 35 miles north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, assailants threw three grenades at a wedding party late Friday, said Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa. Eight people were killed and 62 were wounded, including the groom, he said.
