French Army Special Forces units have been deployed in a remote desert area in south-western Libya, where they have allegedly carried out a raid against Al Qaeda militants or arms smugglers, the Algerian El Khabar newspaper said on Thursday April 07, 2011.

Libyan rebels arm rocket launchers mounted at the back of a pickup truck after retreating east to the outskirts of Ajdabiya. Libyan rebels forces need the help of the international coalition to combat Gaddafi armed forces.

The newspaper quoted Algerian military sources as saying French unmanned aerial vehicles and warplanes had been searching for several days for a group of Special Forces soldiers lost in the desert. France reportedly requested Algeria to provide its air space for French planes to ease the search, but the request was not satisfied, the paper said.

The lost French soldiers were later found and evacuated, it said.

El Khabar has suggested that the units might have been involved in a special operation against forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.