150 Chad Troops Wounded in Battle for Western Towns Overrun by Rebels

N'DJAMENA, Chad — At least 150 government soldiers were wounded and an unknown number killed in a fierce battle for control of towns in west Chad overrun by rebels, Defense Minister Nadjita Beassoumal said Friday.

French troops, some of them airlifted Friday to the desert nation, took up positions at strategic points around Chad’s capital N’Djamena, diplomatic sources said.

France, the former colonial ruler of the Central African country, sent three paratroop companies--about 450 men--to boost its 1,200-man garrison in N’Djamena.

Beassoumal said in an interview with state radio that the Chadian army had retaken the garrison at Bol, 90 miles northwest of N’Djamena, from forces loyal to deposed President Hissen Habre after four days of fighting.

He did not say if the government controlled the rest of Bol, a town on the shores of Lake Chad which Habre loyalists captured in a battle Wednesday and Thursday.

Beassoumal said the rebels had taken advantage of deployment of government forces providing security for the Paris-Cape Town motor rally to capture garrisons at Bol, Liwa, Tchoukou and Hadje.

He said the garrisons had been manned by police and civil guards.

“Now that the army is involved, the garrisons occupied by the rebels will be retaken,” he said.

The rebel attacks, which began Tuesday, were the most serious threat to date to President Idriss Deby, the military leader who with Libyan backing seized power from Habre in a coup in December, 1990.