Ten French soldiers have been killed in an ambush by Taleban fighters east of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
A further 21 French troops were wounded in one of the heaviest tolls suffered by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced he will travel to Kabul to assure troops of his support.
The deaths come amid warnings that insurgents are closing in on the capital city.
The loss of life is thought to be the heaviest suffered by the French military since 58 paratroopers were killed in Beirut in 1983.
The BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby, in Paris, says news of the deaths is bound to provoke anger in France, where about two-thirds of people say they are opposed to any French involvement in the conflict.
But President Sarkozy insisted France remained committed to the fight against terrorism, and that the mission in Afghanistan would continue.
See a breakdown of the Isaf deployment
The French troops were caught up in fighting that started on Monday in the area of Sarobi some 50 km (30 miles) east of Kabul.
French defence officials said about 100 soldiers - from France, the US and Afghanistan - were on a reconnaissance mission when bad road conditions forced them to stop their vehicles.
A group of French soldiers was sent ahead on foot to check the terrain, but they were ambushed by Taleban fighters and nine were killed.
A tenth French soldier was killed when his vehicle overturned on the road.
An Afghan intelligence officer told the BBC the troops had been ambushed from several directions.
"The Taleban and al-Qaeda forces used heavy machine guns and other weapons. They fired from mountains and gardens," he said.
The fighting went on for 24 hours and it is understood that reinforcements had to be called in to airlift the troops to safety.
The French recently took over control of the Kabul regional command which includes Sarobi.
Wave of attacks
France has about 3,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. The French news agency AFP reported that Tuesday's deaths brought to 24 the number killed since 2002.
Leaders from countries including the UK and Italy - both of which have sizeable troop deployments in Afghanistan - paid tribute to the French soldiers.
DEADLY ATTACKS
19 August 2008: 10 French troops killed and 21 wounded in ambush east of Kabul
13 July 2008: Nine US soldiers killed and 15 wounded in attack on base in Kunar
28 June 2005: Rocket-propelled grenade downs US helicopter in Kunar, killing all 16 servicemen aboard
Taleban grow more brazen
"Theirs was a sacrifice not just for France but for all of us who want to help the Afghan people build a better future," said UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the soldiers had died "defending democracy and freedom in Afghanistan".
The ambush came amid signs of deteriorating security in Afghanistan.
Despite increased security in Kabul, two rockets were fired on the city overnight, landing close to the Isaf headquarters.
In the southern province of Kandahar a Nato patrol was struck by a roadside bomb.
And in the south-eastern province of Khost six suicide bombers were killed while attacking a Nato military base, Camp Salerno, Nato says.
Isaf confirmed that Camp Salerno had been attacked by rockets or mortars, and that a number of suicide bombers had tried to storm the base.
On Monday, nine Afghan civilians were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car into the gate of the same base.
Ten French soldiers killed in Taleban ambush
Charles Bremner in Paris
Ten French soldiers have been killed in an ambush by Taleban fighters near the Afghan capital in the biggest battle loss for French forces since 1983.
President Sarkozy announced that he will travel later today to Afghanistan after the attack, which has shocked France and will stiffen opposition to his recent reinforcement of the Nato security operation.
"My determination is intact. France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just," Mr Sarkozy said in a statement.
The 10 lost their lives in fierce clashes that began with an attack yesterday on an International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) patrol in Sarobi district, about 30 miles east of Kabul, according to Afghan officials. About two dozen soldiers from the force were wounded.
Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said that 13 rebels including a Pakistani national had also been killed in the clashes as troops thwarted a second attack on a key US military base in as many days.
The latest casualties bring to 24 the number of French troops killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since French soldiers were first sent there in 2002. French forces there now number 3,000.
The incident was the deadliest for international soldiers in post-Taleban Afghanistan, excluding helicopter or plane crashes. Nine US soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in northeastern Kunar province on July 13.
Mr Sarkozy had warned France to expect casualties when he sent 700 combat troops to bolster allied forces in eastern Afghanistan last April but the high toll is a blow to Mr Sarkozy's policy of rapprochement with Nato.
He sent the troops in - despite the misgivings of senior officers and strong criticism from the leftwing opposition -- as part of his drive to draw closer to the Atlantic alliance after four decades outside the Nato military structure.
Mr Sarkozy has passionately defended his action, calling Afghanistan the front line in the global offensive against barbarous terrorism. Not only Afghanistan is at stake, but Pakistan as well, he said in May. "It has the atomic bomb, and if we let Afghanistan fall, Pakistan will fall like a house."
The French deployment has remained unpopular. An opinion poll in May found that only 26 percent approved of Mr Sarkozy's decision, compared with 72 percent who deplored it. French media commentators depicted the new deployment as foolish at a time when military strategists were arguing that the Afghanistan war was lost.
Even members of the President's rightwing camp disagreed. "It is a political decision with the sole aim of making a gesture towards the United States," said Nicolas Dupont Aignan, a dissident Gaullist. "It is an historic and major mistake which breaks with 50 yers of French independent foreign policy."
The ambush inflicted the heaviest losses on the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French parachutists were killed.
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