Chadian President Deby dies after fighting rebels on frontline: army

N'DJAMENA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chadian President Idriss Deby died Tuesday from injuries he received last weekend on the frontline of a fight against rebels, said the spokesperson for the Chadian army, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, on national television.

"The President of the Republic, Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces, Idriss Deby Itno, has just had his last breath in defending territorial integrity on the battlefield. It is with deep bitterness that we announce to the Chadian people the death on Tuesday of Marshal of Chad," declared General Agouna.

On Monday evening, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) declared Deby the winner of the presidential election of April 11, with 79.32 percent of the votes cast for a sixth term, according to provisional results.

Since April 11, the polling day, militants of the Front for Alternation and Concord in Chad (FACT), an armed rebel group based in neighboring Libya, have made incursions into the province of Tibesti, in northern Chad.

More than 300 FACT rebels were killed and 150 others, including three top leaders, taken prisoner last Saturday in Chad's western Kanem province, a Chadian army spokesperson said Monday.

The battleground is some 300 km north of the capital N'Djamena. On Monday, security in the capital city was beefed up, with tanks deployed in major strategic positions.

The government called on the people to stay calm, saying the security reinforcement was misinterpreted and there is no particular threat to fear.