In a statement broadcast on national radio, the army claimed 125 rebels and 21 soldiers were killed, 30 government troops wounded, and 152 rebels taken prisoner. Several vehicles were also destroyed or captured.

"The first ground clashes have just taken place at Am-Deressa, 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Am-Dam" in eastern Chad, Communications Minister Mahamat Hissene said.

"The government forces gained the upper hand and mopping up operations are continuing."

Interim defence minister Adoum Younousmi spoke earlier in the day of "heavy" casualties from "fierce" combat.

Rebel alliance spokesman Adberaman Koulamallah told AFP that fighting began at 5:00 am (0400 GMT), "was very violent" and "lasted for hours."

He claimed that the battle "turned in our favour. Government forces are completely routed. We occupy Am-Dam. The objective is still (the capital) Ndjamena."

Am-Dam is 110 kilometres (70 miles) north of Goz Beida and more than 100 kilometres south of Abeche, the two towns used as bases by most relief agencies working in eastern Chad to help 450,000 refugees and displaced people.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday said it had pulled all but two of 20 staff out of camps for 60,000 people because of the instability by the insurgency since it began on Monday.

The UN World Food Programme took a similar decision in the same region on Wednesday.

"All the other humanitarian agencies are going to do the same" because the situation is "too volatile and too unstable," said Serge Male, representing the High Commissioner for Refugees in Chad.

Chad has accused Sudan of backing the rebel assault, which began with the ink barely dry on a Sunday peace pact between the fractious neighbours brokered in Doha by Qatar and Libya.

Koulamallah claimed Thursday that the rebels advancing across the hot, arid south of the central African country had "more than a thousand" four-by-four vehicles, but said they had been attacked each day by helicopters and high-flying bombers.

The government has so far stated that it carried out one air attack.

The military activity -- which echoes a February 2008 push when rebels battled their way to the gates of the presidential palace before being beaten back -- has also raised fears among Ndjamena traders.

"Memories of what happened in February 2008 come back into my head," said Elise Mariam, a fish seller in Ndjamena, one of thousands who fled the city then.

"Since I heard that war is back, I've been really frightened.

"I abandoned everything and lost it all. I don't want to live through that again... The international community should act fast."

"We sow injustice and we harvest war," said civil servant Hassan Kuerge. "The international community should put pressure on Deby and his brothers (the political and armed opposition) to have them make peace."

Chadian Interior and Public Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bashir has accused Sudanese President Omar El-Beshir of ordering "mercenaries" to attack Chad and vowed that the rebels would be wiped out.

Peace between Chad and Sudan is regarded as essential to any lasting settlement to a six-year-old uprising in Sudan's western Darfur region.

The UN Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the crisis, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

earlier related report
UN alarmed as Chad rebels, military clash
The United Nations voiced growing concern on Wednesday as Sudan-backed rebels said they were advancing towards the Chadian capital Ndjamena after clashing with government forces in the country's east.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon "is following developments in eastern Chad with increasing concern," the UN said in a statement, calling on Chad and Sudan to resume peace talks and urging respect for UN humanitarian operations.

The government said its forces had bombed the rebels but that there had been no fighting on the ground so far in the latest rebel incursion, which has once again ratcheted up tensions between Chad and its neighbour.

Chadian Interior and Public Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bashir said forces were also being dispatched to intercept a column of rebel fighters spotted in the Central African Republic (CAR) near the border with Chad.

An officer in the CAR army said they had no information for the moment about a rebel presence on their soil. But he added: "The situation worries us."

But a minister in the Bangui government said only: "The government will take its time to react."

Bashir accused Sudanese President Omar El-Beshir of ordering "mercenaries" to attack Chad and vowed that the rebels would be wiped out.

Chad and Sudan have had tense relations for years, each country accusing the other of trying to destabilise its government. The latest peace deal, signed only on Sunday in Doha, appeared now to have fallen through.

Chad's Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) rebels said in a statement that they had fought a "very short battle" with government troops on Tuesday near the border with Sudan and the Central African Republic and were advancing.

"We are doing everything in our power to reach Ndjamena. Our final objective is Ndjamena," a rebel official told AFP by telephone.

Bashir said however that the rebels had been "dealt with by our aircraft."

Chad said Tuesday that rebels had launched an assault backed by Sudan, using several hundred vehicles. Khartoum has denied any part in the offensive.

In its statement on Wednesday, the UN said Ban "appeals to all parties to respect the humanitarian character of the operations of the United Nations and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in eastern Chad."

Ban also asked all states in the region "to prevent their territories and nationals from being used to aid armed groups" and urged Chad and Sudan to settle their differences peacefully.

The African Union has also expressed "deep concern" over the hostilities.

Residents in the eastern town of Goz Beida, heard heavy gunfire, one of them told AFP.

Bashir implicitly confirmed this, stating that planes had attacked the rebels around Kerfi which is about 45 kilometers (27 miles) to the south.

Rebel forces entered villages to the north and south of Goz Beida without meeting resistance, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Staff at the World Food Programme said Wednesday they had stopped distribution of food in the refugee camp of Goz Amir, eastern Chad, housing 22,000 people because of security concerns, the agency announced.

Five of their staff had been moved to the nearby town of Goz Beida, said WFP spokesman Judith Schuler from Dakar.

Aid flights in the region had also been suspended, but work was continuing in 11 other camps in the region.

An estimated 450,000 civilians who fled the violence across the border in Sudan's Darfur region have sought refuge in eastern Chad.

Peace between Chad and Sudan is regarded as essential to any lasting settlement to a six-year-old uprising in Darfur, where Chad's rebels also have rear bases.

Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat met his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner in Paris and later said Chad was not seeking immediate military aid to counter the new offensive.

France has 1,100 soldiers serving in its former colony under a bilateral accord and 800 of its troops are serving in a UN-led force that last month took over from a European mission to protect refugees in camps.

In February last year, rebels battled their way to Ndjamena in western Chad in a bid to overthrow President Idiss Deby Itno before being beaten back with logistical help from some French forces.

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