[allAfrica.com]


Chad Battle Leaves Riverbed Strewn With Bodies

The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 13, 2006
Nairobi
Vultures wheeled over dozens of decomposing bodies and charred military
vehicles strewn across a dried-out riverbed in eastern Chad.
The stench of death filled the air. Discarded uniforms, combat boots and empty
ammunition boxes littered the sand.
Plastic tubes from intravenous (IV) drips hurriedly applied to wounded fighters
still dangled from trees, flapping in the breeze.
This wadi or riverbed near the village of Bobok, 40 km (25 miles) west of the
eastern town of Biltine, was the scene at the weekend of one of the heaviest
battles this year between government forces and rebels opposed to President
Idriss Deby.
Claim victory
Both sides claim victory in the latest clash of this hit-and-run low-intensity
war, fought with armed pick-up trucks in the desert, scrubland and mountains of
eastern Chad.
"It was violent, very violent," said Biltine's mayor, Moussa Abdel Nabi, who
toured the battlefield with reporters on Monday.
"All we could hear was heavy weapons, even from 40 kilometres away in Biltine,"
he said.


===============================================================================
  Copyright © 2006 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                        Global Media (allAfrica.com).
===============================================================================