Chad Reports Raids by Libyan Planes, Troops on 2 Towns in Northern Desert

Libyan warplanes bombed the northern Chadian desert towns of Fada and Zouar, Chad radio reported Friday.

The brief broadcast, monitored in Abidjan, also said that “after a short lull, the Libyan army has returned to the offensive” with attacks on the two towns Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The report made no mention of casualties.

Libyan television reported Thursday that “heavy human and material losses” had been inflicted during a guerrilla ground attack on Chadian forces in the northeast but denied its troops were involved. The official Jana news agency reported from Tripoli, the Libyan capital, that a “considerable stock” of American, French and Egyptian arms and ammunition had been captured by Libyan-backed rebels at Fada.

The French newspaper Le Monde, quoting experts in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, reported Thursday that the Libyan army in northern Chad has been reinforced to an estimated 13,000 men.

French troops have been reinforced and redeployed to the towns of Abeche and Biltine, closer to the 16th Parallel that divides the country roughly in half. France, former colonial ruler of Chad, has pledged to repel any Libyan-led attack below that line, where most of the country’s non-Muslim population lives.