CHAD SAYS TROOPS KILLED 1,200 LIBYANS IN BATTLE
Chad's military high command said
today troops killed 1,269 Libyan soldiers in routing a
5,000-strong force to capture Tripoli's major air base in
northern Chad on Sunday.
    In its first published casualty list from the fierce battle
for Ouadi Doum air base, the high command said 438 Libyans were
taken prisoner, while 29 Chadian soldiers were killed and 58
wounded.
    It said the prisoners included the regional commander,
Colonel Khalifa Abul-Gassim Hastar, while his deputy, Colonel
Gassim Ali Abu-Nawar, was among the dead.
    The Chadian army also captured substantial amounts of
weaponry, including 11 Czechoslovak-made L-39 bombers, three
Soviet MI-24 fighter helicopters and a large number of tanks,
as well as hundreds of other vehicles armed with guns or
anti-aircraft missiles.
    Following Sunday's battle, French officers said the fall of
Ouadi Doum deprived Libya of its only hard runway air base in
Chad. Its main strongpoint, Faya Largeau some 230 km (150
miles) north of the so-called "red line" along the 16th parallel,
was left increasingly exposed.
    The 16th parallel divides the central African country into
government-held zones in the south and mainly Libyan-controlled
areas in the north.
 Reuter
