Chad Reports Major Libyan Attack on Mountain Town

Libya launched a major air and ground attack on civilians and former Chadian rebels in the northern Tibesti mountains Wednesday, Chad said.

Chad’s high command, in a statement broadcast on state radio, said that fierce fighting broke out at dawn in the town of Zouar after Libya attacked.

Official sources said the town 600 miles north of N’Djamena, the capital of the central African nation, was on fire.

“In successive waves, the enemy air force dropped all types of bombs on the Chadian civilian population in the region,” the military statement said. “Fierce fighting is going on inspired by the determination of the patriotic freedom fighters to drive (Libyan leader Moammar) Kadafi’s aggressor troops out of the national territory.”

Earlier Raids

Chad has reported two other Libyan raids this week on towns in the Tibesti mountains, the stronghold of an estimated 3,000 troops loyal to a former Chadian president and Libyan ally, Goukouni Oueddei, who now backs the government in the conflict, which has raged intermittently for the last 20 years. Chad’s government describes Goukouni’s men as “patriotic fighters.”

On Sunday, Chad said Libya had lost over 400 men and 17 tanks and its troops were put to flight in the town of Bardai. The following day, it accused Libya of using napalm and toxic gas in another attack on Zouar.

French planes dropped supplies to the Chadian forces Wednesday, and Libya warned that continued French support might provoke a “serious escalation” of fighting.

The Libyan Foreign Ministry in Tripoli called the French ambassador to its offices to protest the second French airdrop of supplies since Dec. 17.

Libyan state-run radio said the Foreign Ministry told the French ambassador that “the French attitude would lead to a serious escalation of the situation in Chad.”

A French Defense Ministry spokesman said that France gave the Chadian forces “certain logistical aid of which the contents are an operating secret.”

U.S. Assistance

The United States announced last week that it was rushing up to $15 million in military assistance to Chad’s President Hissen Habre to help repel Libyan attacks.

Chad’s official press criticized what it described as the indifference of the civilized world to the fate of Goukouni, who it says is detained in Libya and is suffering “physical and moral torture.” The press accused Libya of trying to force Goukouni, whom it backed until he joined forces with Habre last October, to tell his men to lay down their arms and make peace with the Tripoli government.

Libya now backs another northern rebel leader, Acheikh Oumar.