Afghan market attack 'kills 10'

French troops helped to evacuate wounded civilians

At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in a rocket attack on a market in north-eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan police blamed the attack on Taliban insurgents and said at least 28 people had been wounded.

A spokesman said at least two Chinese-made rockets struck the crowded market in the Tagab valley, north of Kabul.

The attack took place as the head of French forces was holding a meeting with tribal elders nearby, French officials said.

Gen Marcel Druart had been attending a "shura" of tribal elders 300m away, the French news agency AFP reported.

"French and American medical teams with helicopters evacuated six of the wounded to military hospitals in Kabul, while armoured vehicles took others to the French base in Tagab," armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck told reporters in Paris.

He added: "The insurgents seize these opportunities to try and hurt us. But as in this case, with their cynicism and their usual violence, it's not the soldiers who got hit but the Afghan civilian population."

French officials said none of the casualties were Nato troops.

Tagab is in Kapisa province, about 75km (45 miles) north east of the capital.

France has more than 3,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, mainly north of Kabul in the Kapisa and Surobi areas.