Government troops clash with rebels

Rebels of the Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT) said that they had attacked government soldiers who had been ordered to destroy crops and houses in the northern region of Tibesti, killing 25 of them in the Zoumri area on Sunday, news organisations reported on Monday. While the government in the capital, N'Djamena, confirmed that the rebels were on the offensive in the mountainous region, it denied that the army had sustained any casualties, AFP reported. BBC reported Communications Minister Moussa Dago as saying that the rebel offensive had failed and that a rebel base near Zoumri had been destroyed. The MJDT leader, Youssouf Togoimi, who had held the portfolios of justice, defence and interior in former president Idriss Deby's government, said in an interview in June with the weekly `Jeune Afrique' magazine that his forces would be in the capital by the end of the year.