Chad’s army said Friday that it had killed “several hundred” rebels in two days of fighting in the country’s west, where President Idriss Deby Itno was killed on the front lines earlier this month.
“On April 29, the defence and security forces finished dealing with the rebel band that intruded towards Nokou in northern Kanem,” army spokesman Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement.
Nokou is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of N’Djamena, the capital.
“Several hundred rebels neutralized (and) 66 taken prisoner,” according to Agouna, while six soldiers were killed.
Since mid-April, the army has been fighting the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which is mostly made up of Gorans, in the Kanem desert region near the Niger border.
Deby died of wounds sustained while leading troops against FACT after winning 80% of the vote in the presidential election on April 11, the same day the rebels launched their offensive.
Since assuming power in 1990 following a coup, he has ruled Chad with an iron fist.
His son, Mahamat Deby Itno, has taken power as the head of a military junta and vowed to kill FACT after his father’s death.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
