50 killed in attack on Chadian village

Sept 27, 2005 (NDJAMENA) — 50 people have been killed in a village in eastern Chad during an attack by an armed group from neighbouring Sudan and subsequent clashes with Chadian forces.

The attack took place in the eastern Wadai region on Monday morning, government spokesman Hurmaji Musa Dumgor said Tuesday.

“Armed and uniformed horsemen from Sudan infiltrated Chadian territory on Monday between 8:00 and 9:00 am (0700 and 0800 GMT)… and took to massacring Chadian people and stole their livestock,” he said.

“The Chadian armed forces responded rapidly,” he added, saying the soldiers had killed eight of the attackers and captured seven.

The horsemen had earlier killed at least 36 villagers in Madayun, according to army sources.

Eastern Chad borders on the Darfur region of Sudan, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced since rebels rose up in February 2003, prompting a fierce response from government forces and allied militia.

The most notorious of these allies are the Janjaweed, armed men on horse- and camel-back widely condemned by human rights groups for their atrocities against civilians.

(AFP/ST)