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STORY: French President Francois Hollande presided over a "national tribute" on Thursday to four French soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the weekend.

A suicide bomber dressed in a burqa blew himself up near a French patrol in Afghanistan on Saturday, killing four soldiers and wounding five as the Taliban step up a spring offensive.

The attack -- one of the deadliest on the French contingent in months -- occurred in the mountainous Kapisa province in the east of the country, an area mainly patrolled by a French force under NATO command.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was present at the ceremony which took place at the Invalides, where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.

The tribute began with a service at the Saint-Louis cathedral in the Invalides, followed by a ceremony in the courtyard where Hollande conferred the Legion d'Honneur on the deceased soldiers.

French President Francois Hollande restated his plan to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, well before NATO allies, as he offered condolences to the victims' families.