Missile fired at French plane in Chad – Paris

Oct 24, 2006 (PARIS) — A ground-to-air missile was fired at a French military aircraft on a reconnaissance mission in eastern Chad, but missed its target, the French armed forces said on Tuesday.

“Yesterday morning an Atlantique 2 patrol plane on an observation mission in eastern Chad detected a missile being fired. The plane was not hit,” armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said, adding that it was not known who fired the missile.

Rebels have attacked two towns in eastern Chad in recent days and appeared to be moving across the mostly desert country towards the capital N’Djamena, recalling a lightning assault on the city in April in which hundreds were killed.

The attacks recalled a lightning assault on N’Djamena in April, launched from the east by rebels who raced across the desert in pick-up trucks from the Sudan border. Several hundred people were killed in the capital before the army took control.

France, whose air force fired a warning shot on the rebel column as it advanced on N’Djamena in April, said it was “very attached to the stability of Chad” and following events closely.

(Reuters)