Taliban threaten Paris attacks, claim troops' killing

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Taliban threatened to launch attacks in Paris unless France withdraws from Afghanistan, in a video aired by Al Arabiya television on Monday.

The video also claimed an ambush that killed 10 French troops in August was carried out by the Taliban. It was not clear when the recording was made.

"We have killed 10 French soldiers today as a message to the French so that they rectify their mistakes and withdraw from Afghanistan, and if they don't they will hear our response in Paris," said Mullah Farouq, identified as the commander of the unit that raided the French troops, on the video. His remarks were dubbed into Arabic by the station.

The video included footage of what appeared to be a French armored unit being stalked by Taliban fighters. Some insurgents were later shown wearing uniforms of the French soldiers they had killed.

Taliban fighters killed the 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle near the capital Kabul after ambushing their reconnaissance patrol in August, in the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat there since 2001.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Afghanistan to honor those killed and said French troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight terrorism.

Sarkozy sent an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, responding to U.S. pleas for its NATO allies to do more to help check the resurgent Taliban. That brought the number of French troops in Afghanistan to about 2,600.

(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)