Fifth French soldier wounded in January Afghan attack dies

A fifth French soldier wounded in a January mass shooting by an Afghan army colleague in which four other soldiers were killed, has died, the defence ministry said in a statement. 

Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

Captain Christophe Schnetterle of the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment based in Varces was seriously wounded in the 20 January attack by an Afghan colleague in Kapisa, eastern Afghanistan.

The killings prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to bring forward the withdrawal date for French soldiers in Afghanistan by one year.

A total of 83 French soldiers have died in Afghanistan since they first deployed there to fight the Taliban-led insurgency in 2001.

According to the ministry of defence, there will be 3,400 French soldiers in Afghanistan by the end of march out of a total international force of 130,000. Around 600 French soldiers have been withdrawn since October 2011.