Chad Military Plane Shot Down Near Sudan

Government soldiers patrol past the half-empty market of Abeche, Chad Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006. The east Chadian town was briefly seized by rebels on Saturday, who withdrew after 12 hours. An unknown number of soldiers and rebels were killed and wounded in the encounter. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) (Christophe Ena - AP)

N'DJAMENA, Chad -- A Chadian military reconnaissance plane was shot down in eastern Chad on Tuesday, a government spokesman said, and a rebel group claimed responsibility. A government spokesman blamed neighboring Sudan for backing the rebels and said it was "a state of war."

The plane was downed in Chad's volatile east, close to the Sudanese border, government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said at a news conference. He did not provide other details.

"Today we are in a state of war with forces from Sudan," he said. "We consider ourselves under attack by Sudan."

An opposition Web site quoted rebel spokesman Ali Izzo as saying rebels had shot down a plane and a helicopter using surface-to-air missiles. The account could not immediately be confirmed.

On Oct. 23, someone fired a surface-to-air missile at a French reconnaissance jet, part of a military mission in support of the Chadian government, but the weapon missed its target.

Doumgor told journalists that in response to Tuesday's downing of a plane that "the state of emergency will be reinforced and the military put on the highest alert."

He said the United Nations and African Union should do all that is possible to evacuate Sudanese refugees who are in camps near the border, which he called havens for "the forces of aggression."

Doumgor claimed some refugees were working for the Sudanese government, trying to destabilize Chad. He also repeated allegations made a day earlier that Saudi Arabia finances and supplies the rebels in order to establish a militant form of Islam in Chad.

In the eastern town of Abeche, meanwhile, some 60 miles west of the airplane attack, Chadian troops went door-to-door Tuesday, shooting open locks and searching for looted goods.

Rebel fighters stormed and briefly held Abeche Saturday, and civilians ransacked U.N. warehouses and government buildings, including the governor's residence. The rebels withdrew Sunday, and government troops retook the city.

Provincial Gov. Mahamat Nimir Hamata said a courthouse in Abeche, an office of the national bank, a cigarette factory, the repair shop where the U.N. keeps spare parts, and the state archives were also stripped of goods and furnishings.

Under pressure from government troops, residents made piles of stolen goods in the street, including tires, tables, mattresses and satellite television dishes.