Rebels kill soldiers in Chad

Rebels fought back a Chadian army attack outside an eastern Chad town, killing 100 soldiers and injuring an unknown number of others, a rebel spokesman said.

Soldiers attacked a rebel position just outside the eastern Chad town of Biltine yesterday, and after three hours of fighting, rebels of the group known as UFDD, fought them off, said Ali Moussa Izzo, spokesman of the group.

He said that General Mas-Oud Diresse led the government forces that consisted of three columns made up of 250 vehicles.

This week, Biltine has become a major battleground with rebels seizing it and then being fought off by the army, only for the rebels to recapture it.