Sarkozy Calls Top Security Officials over Afghanistan Attack
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday he would convene an emergency meeting of his top security officials after five French soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan.
Sarkozy told reporters during Bastille Day celebrations in France that the country's Security Council would meet at his Elysee palace later in the day.
The council would discuss "new security conditions for our soldiers in the transition period before the departure of French forces from Afghanistan," said Sarkozy.
The president was due to honour troops returning from Afghanistan at the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris.
Five soldiers and an Afghan civilian were killed in the attack Wednesday on a unit protecting a local tribal council in Kapisa province, east of Kabul.
Sarkozy announced on Tuesday during his trip to Afghanistan that a quarter of France's 4,000-strong contingent would come home before the end of next year. Polls show most French voters oppose the war.