Chad accuses Sudan of bombing villages

"The Sudanese air force targeted the Chadian villages of Bahai, Tine, Karyari and Bamina, destroying the homes of peaceful Chadian citizens," Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement.

He gave no details of any casualties.

But a humanitarian organisation source in the capital N'Djamena told AFP that "Our teams present on the ground cannot at the moment confirm the bombings announced by the... minister,"

"Our colleagues in the region saw nothing, this news seems to me rather surprising," said another non-governmental organisation source.

"We are not in Tine but we have a team in Bahai, I am rather surprised."

The Chadian government has accused Sudan of aiding rebels who are seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby Itno, and who resumed hostilities last Sunday with an attack on a Chadian town near the borders with Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Sudan meanwhile accuses Chad of providing refuge to rebels from Darfur, which runs along the border.

Also on Saturday a Chadian rebel leader claimed the fighting early in the week killed almost 80 people, with government forces accounting for 73 of the dead.

"We also took 43 prisoners and destroyed and seized numerous vehicles," said General Mahamat Nouri, head of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), in a telephone interview with AFP.

For its part the Chadian government said the fighting in the towns of Am Timan and Goz Beida left around 40 people dead, of whom 30 were rebels.

The Chadian army reclaimed control over the region without incident Wednesday, with rebel forces retreating to far eastern Chad. Sudan denied any involvement in those attacks.