"There was no French operation," said Admiral Christophe Prazuck, spokesperson for the armed forces' general staff.

The spokesperson said the French forces present in the region were operating within the framework of the European Union anti-piracy force and that "they did not intervene over Somali territory".

Somali elders and witnesses said foreign troops staged a helicopter raid in the village of Erile, about 200km south of the capital Mogadishu, opening fire on a vehicle and killing several people inside.

The area is controlled by the al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-inspired organisation engaged in a massive offensive against the Somali government and which is believed to be holding a French agent kidnapped in July.

A local Islamist commander who asked to remain anonymous claimed that the helicopters were