France deliberately exposed its soldiers to nuclear explosions in Algeria in the 1960s to study the effect of radiation on humans, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing confidential documents.

The French government promised last year to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria, carried out between 1960 and 1966, recognizing a link between the explosions and veterans' illnesses such as cancer.

While the government has said the tests were conducted as safely as possible, newspaper Le Parisien quoted an official defense report from the period as saying that the army deliberately sent its soldiers on risky maneuvers on April 25, 1961....