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Clashes between informal gold prospectors in an area north of Chad have left about 100 dead and 40 injured, government sources said today.
According to reports, a weak conflict between “two individuals… degenerated into massive deadly clashes”, said Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim for the AFP agency.
The mountainous region of Kouri Bougoudi near the border with Libya attracts gold diggers from all over Chad as well as from several neighboring countries.
The serious clash happened over the weekend but information is only coming out now.
Some groups said the death toll was higher than authorities said and blamed security forces for some of the deaths.
The government has sent a mission to the area about 1,000km northeast of the capital N’Djamena.
Minister Brahim said a large military contingent had been sent to the area and had restored calm.
He added that he believed the clash took place with people from Libya and Mauritania.
But last week Mahamat Nour Ibedou, head of the Chadian Human Rights Commission, said soldiers sent to intervene had shot at people, as quoted by AFP.
He and an opposition leader said the death toll was up to 200, but authorities denied the figures as well as responsibility for the aggravation of the massacre.
All mining activities in Kouri Bougoudi are currently suspended.
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