Afghan soldier says killed French troops over abuse video

An Afghan soldier who shot dead four French troops has said he did it because of a recent video showing US Marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban insurgents, security sources said.      

Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered his condolences to France's defense minister on Sunday, following the killing of four French troops by an Afghan soldier.       

The shooting Friday in eastern Afghanistan provoked a sharp reaction from Paris, prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to suspend training missions and threaten to withdraw French troops early from the country.         

On Sunday, Karzai met with French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet in Kabul and discussed the killings and Afghan-French relations.           

Karzai's office said Longuet still sounded prepared to sign a long-term partnership to keep French forces in Afghanistan for years. The Afghan government expects the deal to be signed next week, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai.           

The shooting last week was the second in which an Afghan soldier has turned on French forces since France first sent forces here, and the latest in a rising number of assaults in which Afghan security forces or infiltrators have turned their guns on coalition troops.