The army in Chad said Friday it had killed “several hundred” rebels over two days of fighting in the country’s west, where President Idriss Deby Itno suffered mortal wounds at the front line 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 around 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the capital N’Djamena.

Agouna tallied “several hundred rebels neutralised (and) 66 taken prisoner” while six soldiers were killed.

The army has since mid-April been fighting the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), drawn mainly from the Goran ethnic group, in the Kanem desert region along the border with Niger.

Clinching 80 percent of the vote in the presidential election on April 11, the same day the rebels launched their offensive, Deby officially died of wounds suffered while leading troops against FACT.

He had ruled Chad with an iron fist since taking power on the back of a coup in 1990.

Since his death, his son Mahamat Deby Itno has taken power at the head of a military junta and vowed to destroy FACT. (Courtesy of Reuters excluding headline)

· PHOTO CAPTION: This video grab from an AFPTV video shows soldiers of the Chadian army deployed in the capital N’Djamena on April 20, 2021 after the announcement of Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno’s death. – Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno died on April 20, 2021 from wounds sustained in battle after three decades in power, the army announced

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