President Nicolas Sarkozy is travelling to Afghanistan to support French troops a day after one of the deadliest attacks on French forces abroad.

Ten French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush by Taleban fighters east of the capital, Kabul.

Mr Sarkozy said France was committed to the fight against terrorism, and the mission in Afghanistan would continue.

France plans to send in 700 troops by the end of August, bringing its presence in Afghanistan to 2,600.

The French news agency AFP reported that Tuesday's deaths brought to 24 the number of French troops killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

The BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby, in Paris, says news of the deaths will provoke anger in France, where two-thirds of people say they are opposed to French involvement in the conflict.

The loss of life is thought to be the heaviest suffered by the French military since 58 paratroopers were killed in Beirut in 1983.