TULLE, Rajab 20, 1433, Jun 10, 2012, SPA - President Francois Hollande said Saturday France will begin its Afghanistan pullout next month and complete it by year-end, after four French troops were killed in a Taliban attack. Hollande said France would pay a “national homage” to the men killed in a suicide bombing and that five wounded soldiers would be repatriated rapidly, according to a report of AFP. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is due to reach Afghanistan on Sunday after he was told by the French president to head there, hours after the attack. Hollande said the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan, one of his presidential campaign pledges, “will begin in the month of July, will be carried out and be completed at the end of 2012.” “In the meantime, everything must be done for our troops to meet their obligations but with the highest level of security and with the greatest vigilance for the lives of the soldiers.” “I am making this engagement here and I will be the guarantor for this operation,” Hollande said in the central town of Tulle. --SPA 15:09 LOCAL TIME 12:09 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1006228