French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet (L) stands in front of the four coffins of French soldiers at Kabul Airport 

AFP
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said Saturday that the French soldiers killed in Afghanistan were shot dead by Taliban "infiltrated for a long time" in the ranks of the Afghan army, reports AFP.

Longuet made the comments during a meeting with General Nazar, commander of the 3rd Afghan army brigade at their main base in eastern Afghanistan.

"It was evidently a Taliban infiltrated for a long time", Longuet said.

On Friday, four French soldiers were shot dead and 16 wounded by a man wearing the Afghan army uniform at the Gwan military unit in eastern Afghanistan.

The 21-year-old man has been identified as Abdul Mansour and was arrested after the shootings.

Longuet said the man was an Afghan army deserter who had likely gone to Pakistan, before returning to infiltrate the army ranks and had been at the Gwan unit for about two months.