Chad says killed 43 Islamic militants in clashes

By Laoro Gondje

N’DJAMENA, Chad, March 11 (Reuters) – Chad’s army has killed 43 Islamic militants during two days of heavy fighting near the border with Niger, the government said Thursday.

The government said in a statement that those killed belonged to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a hard-line Algerian Islamic militant group that recently pledged its allegiance to al Qaeda.

“The government forces have neutralized the threat from the terrorists,” the statement said.

U.S. military experts recently began training soldiers in Mali and Algeria to fight the potential threat from Islamic militants believed to be roaming ancient trade routes across the Sahara desert.

Washington has vowed to assist Mauritania, Niger and Chad to combat security threats.

Chad said among the dead were nine Algerians and nationals from Niger, Nigeria and Mali — all countries where the United States fears al Qaeda is recruiting militants and setting up cells.

Three government soldiers were killed and 18 were wounded, the statement said. The army seized weapons, including mortars and pickup trucks with mounted heavy machine guns, and satellite phones, it said.

The army found the group of Islamic militants in Zouarke, 80 miles from Zouar — a remote desert town in northern Chad near the border with Niger, the statement said.

Soldiers captured five prisoners, including a Chadian said by the government to be a member of a the country’s rebel movement.

There have been sporadic outbreaks of fighting in the arid north of the country between government troops and the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice over the past few years.

Lying to the southeast of the Sahara, landlocked Chad is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south and Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon to the west.