The Chadian army said five government soldiers were also killed as they put down an armed rebellion in the country’s northwest.
The Chadian army said on Monday it had killed 300 rebels who led 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 April 11, the same day as Chad’s presidential election, which is expected to see incumbent President Idriss Deby Itno set to extend his term by 30 years.
The Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) raid saw “more than 300 rebels neutralized” and claimed the lives of “five martyrs” or government troops, the spokesman told AFP on Monday. of the army, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna.
Bermandoa said 36 soldiers were wounded in Saturday’s fighting and 150 rebels were taken prisoner, including three senior officials.
The government said the rebel offensive in Tibesti and Kanem provinces was over.
Deby, who took 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 oldest rulers, Deby has successfully quelled a series of rebellions since coming to power, sometimes with military assistance from France.
