Agence France-Presse,
NDJAMENA: Chadian air force planes on Monday attacked a Chadian rebel base across the border, southwest of El-Geneina in the Darfur region of Sudan, a military source said.
The air raid was carried out around 4:00 am (0300 GMT) by two helicopters, an Mi-17 and an Mi-24, with a Pilatus light aircraft, military and security officials said.
But a Chadian rebel spokesman told AFP that the aircraft could not have hit rebel forces since “our troops are all in Chad”.
The military and security sources confirmed a report from Khartoum on Sunday that a similar attack had been carried out in the same Darfur region against rebels opposed to Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno.
Several rebel bases lie south of El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) across the desert from Abeche, the main town in eastern Chad, but it was not clear which had been targetted.
Sudanese army spokesman Othman al-Aghbach said Monday that Chadian aircraft had bombed positions in West Darfur early Sunday, killing and wounding civilians.
“Three Antonov planes attacked positions southwest of Geneina in the early hours of Sunday, killing three civilians and wounding four others,” he said.
A spokesman for Chad's latest rebel alliance formed in mid-December, Abderaman Koulamallah, said Monday's attack could not have affected the movement since “our troops are all on the Chadian side of the border.”
The attack followed a threat Saturday by Deby to pursue and strike Chadian rebels inside neighbouring Sudan and repeated charges that Khartoum was trying to destabilise his country.
Deby told a rally that his forces had already driven out the rebels from Chad and said: “We're going to destroy them in their nest inside Sudan. We're going to make them eat dust inside Sudan.”
Rebels and government forces clashed violently in eastern Chad between November 26 and December 4, scuttling October peace accords signed in Libya.
The rebels have since claimed to have reorganised and allegedly had support from Khartoum, worsening tensions between the two countries.
Rebels had previously acknowledged that the majority of their forces were massed on the Sudanese side of the border.
On January 1, Sudan's military claimed eight of its soldiers were killed and 19 wounded in clashes with rebels backed by Chadian troops in Darfur, just across Chad's border.
And last week, Sudan said Chadian forces had carried out an air and ground assault in Darfur, charges strongly denied by Ndjamena.
