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Goz-Beida, Chad: Chadian rebels said they captured another eastern town on Monday, the third in three days, as they harassed government forces around a major centre for international aid operations.
The rebels, who say have been moving westwards from the border with Sudan in several fast-moving attacks in the Ouaddai region, where European Union troops are protecting civilian refugees.
"Biltine has just fallen," Ali Gadaye, spokesman for the anti-Deby rebel National Alliance, told reporters by telephone.
The insurgents, grouped in the National Alliance, have said their objective is to push westwards towards N'Djamena, which they attacked in early February. The aim of the rebel group is to overthrow President Idriss Deby, who has ruled Chad, a minor oil producer, since seizing power in 1990.
There was no immediate reaction from the government or independent confirmation of the fall of Biltine to the rebels, who have said their aim is to advance towards the capital N'Djamena, some 700 km (450 miles) to the west.
Biltine lies just over 90 km north of Abeche, the main hub of international humanitarian operations in east Chad.
Besides UN relief agencies and other aid groups, troops from both former colonial power France and from the EU military protection force (EUFOR) in Chad are stationed at Abeche.
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