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Furor over pics of Taliban in dead soldiers' kit

  • Story Highlights
  • Photos of Taliban in the uniforms of dead French soldiers provokes outrage
  • Magazine Paris Match features photos of Taliban and their commander
  • 10 French troops were killed and a further 21 injured in an ambush
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(CNN) -- A magazine photo spread of Taliban fighters posing in the uniforms of 10 French soldiers killed last month has sparked an angry response.

Soldiers carry the coffin of corporal Anthony Riviere, one of the French soldiers killed in the Taliban ambush.

One of the pictures in the French magazine Paris Match that has stirred controversy.

The latest edition of Paris Match includes photos of the Taliban fighters and their commander, "Farouki," wearing French uniforms, helmets and using French assault rifles and walkie-talkies.

Farouki, aged 30-35, claims in the accompanying story to have led his group in the August 18 ambush which killed 10 French troops and injured a further 21 in the Sarobi District, 40 miles east of Kabul. It was the French army's single highest death toll in 25 years.

He said the area was "our territory" and the attack was a "legitimate" part of its defense.

Farouki said it did not need a lot of planning, with the French soldiers only spotted a short time before the assault.

He said the soldiers had died for "[George W.] Bush's" cause and that if France did not return the rest of its troops home they would all be killed.

Farouki said they would continue fighting till the last man. See more on Paris Match's Web site

French Defense Minister Herve Morin accused the magazine of helping the Taliban.

"Should we be doing the Taliban's promotion for them?" he asked in the French daily newspaper Liberation.

Joel Le Pahun, father of one of the killed soldiers, told the newspaper the pictures were "despicable."

Green MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit called them "voyeurism."

However, Paris Match editor Laurent Valdiguie defended the publication, saying it was "legitimate" given the importance of the story.

The story's author, Eric de Lavarène, said only he and photographer Véronique de Viguerie met the group and he asked his questions via their "fixer."

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