French soldiers die in Afghan fighting
Updated
An Afghan military officer says 10 French soldiers have been killed in fighting with the Taliban just outside the capital Kabul.
Heavy fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban began yesterday just 30 kilometres east of the capital.
Meanwhile across the border in northwestern Pakistan, a suicide bomb blast at a hospital has killed at least 23 people.
Our reporter Claire Mackay reports the blast ripped through a hospital in the north western town of Dera Ismail Khan killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 20 others.
Police say a suicide bomber blew himself up as dozens of Shiite Muslims gathered at the hospital to protest against the death of a man who was fatally stabbed in a local store.
Police and civilians have been killed by the bomb.
The town is near Pakistan's troubled tribal areas and has been bombed several times before.
A police official says the hospital bomb could be linked to sectarian violence.
