Soldiers killed 69 Sudanese Arab militiamen who had crossed the border from Sudan to raid a Chadian village, the communications minister said yesterday, in clashes likely to further strain relations between the two countries.
The army captured two members of the militia known as Janjaweed during the attack Thursday in Birak, 6km from the border, said Mouckhtar Wawa Dahab.
Dahab said he had no details of Chadian casualties or any more information on the attack.
Chad has been leading efforts to end a 16-month rebellion in western Sudan's Darfur region, where the Janjaweed militia, backed by the Sudanese government, has stepped up a campaign to drive out black African rebels in what some aid groups say amounts to ethnic cleansing.
More than 110,000 Sudanese have fled to eastern Chad, but the Arab militia has been conducting cross-border raids for months, stealing livestock and terrorizing Sudanese refugees and Chadian civilians.
On May 9 hundreds of Sudanese Arab militiamen raided a village inside Chad, sparking fighting between the gunmen and the Chadian army that killed dozens of civilians, 60 of the militia and one Chadian army officer.
Two Darfur rebel groups -- the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, drawn from black African tribes which have traditionally inhabited the area -- took up arms in February of last year, saying they were fighting for a greater share of Sudan's wealth and power for their impoverished region.
Chadian President Idriss Deby has been leading mediation efforts to end the conflict and on April 8, the warring parties signed a cease-fire agreement to allow humanitarian agencies into the area at talks in N'djamena, the Chadian capital.
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