Chad: Military Says It Killed 300 Rebels After Attempted Incursion
Chad military says five government soldiers were also killed as it put down an armed rebellion in the country’s northwest.
Tish
The Chadian army said on the Monday it had killed 300 rebels who waged a major incursion into the north of the country eight days ago, adding that it had lost five of its soldiers. A heavily armed rebel group launched a raid from its rear base in Libya on the April 11 the same day as Chad’s presidential election that is expected to see the incumbent Idriss Deby Itno poised to extend his
30 year rule also. The raid by the Front for Change and Concord in the Chad (FACT) saw “more than 300 rebels neutralised” and claimed the lives of “five martyrs” or government troops, army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna also told the media on the Monday. Bermandoa said 36 soldiers had been wounded in the Saturday’s fighting and 150 rebels taken prisoner also
including three senior officials. The government has said that the rebel offensive in the provinces of Tibesti and Kanem was over. Deby, who seized power in 1990 as the head of an armed rebellion, is a staunch ally of France and the United States in the fight against armed groups in the arid Sahel region. One of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, Deby has successfully put down a string of rebellions since taking power, sometimes with military assistance from France.
