Paris- France will deploy aditional military equipment to Afghanistan as well as about 100 more soldiers to service it, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday ahead of a parliamentary debate of the country's presence in the country.

The materiel will include helicopters, drones, surveillance equipment and mortars, Fillon told a special session of Parliament, convened to debate and vote on the presence of French military forces in Afghanistan.

The vote comes amidst a controversy provoked by the death of 10 French soldiers on August 18 in a firefight with Taliban rebels east of the Aghan capital Kabul and by the publication, on Saturday, of a "classified NATO report" in the Canadian daily Globe and Mail alleging that the soldiers had been badly equipped.

According to the report, the French soldiers ran out of ammunition after 90 minutes of fighting and had only one radio in their possession, and it ceased functioning shortly after the fighting began.

The "secret document" reportedly alleged that four of the dead soldiers had been captured by the Taliban and executed, and declared that the Afghan soldiers that accompanied the French troops had fled, leaving their equipment behind.

Both the French military and NATO have firmly rejected the charges, with a NATO spokesman denying the existence of any classified report regarding the battle.

But on Monday, French Defence Minister Herve Morin acknowledged that a document containing the charges but that it was only "a partial assessment" made by an officer of NATO's Joint Operation Centre

"It is not a report," Morin told RTL radio. "It is an assessment, an e-mail containing several false elements."

Fillon said the media allegations were false. "The reality is cruel enough to add to it lies and disinformation," the French prime minister said.

In any case, with the ruling UMP party holding an overwhelming majority in Parliament, it is very unlikely that the media reports will have any influence on the outcome of the vote.

In a letter to opposition politicians, President Nicolas Sarkozy said that France's military presence in Afghanistan was necessary "because the stakes are of major importance... It is unacceptable that a regime is installed again in Kabul that has supported and still supports terrorism."

However, according to a recent survey, nearly two of three French adults oppose the maintenance of French troops in Afghanistan. Fránce currently has about 3,300 soldiers stationed in the country. (dpa)