Chadian rebels mounting what they say is a new offensive against President Idriss Deby advanced deeper into the country from the east today, briefly occupying the town of Am-Dam.
"We occupied the town of Am-Dam this morning," Ali Gadaye, spokesman for the rebel National Alliance, told Reuters by satellite phone. "We did not meet much resistance."
Am-Dam is a small town about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Goz-Beida where Irish troops serving with an EU military force (EUFOR) in Chad came under fire yesterday.
After occupying the town the rebel forces moved on in the direction of the capital, Abderaman Koulamallah, whose Union for Democratic Change (UDC) is part of the National Alliance, told Reuters by phone from France.
"Our forces are on the far side of Am-Dam, a little to the west," he said.
Koulamallah said the rebel column near Am-Dam was different to the one that attacked Goz-Beida, near the Sudanese border, yestday.
Aid compounds used by humanitarian agencies helping refugees from Sudan and Chad were looted in the attack.
Koulamallah said the column that attacked Goz-Beida was still in the Goz-Beida area although it had pulled out of the town on Saturday after fighting with government forces.
A Reuters reporter who saw that column before Saturday's attack on Goz-Beida said it numbered up to 100 vehicles, mostly pickups, including some with machine guns mounted on the back.