Goz-Beida, 70 km (40 miles) by road from Chad's border with Sudan's Darfur region, is surrounded by U.N.-run camps housing Sudanese and Chadian refugees. They are being protected by an Irish battalion, the 97th Infantry, serving with EUFOR.

"At approximately 12.30 p.m. today an armoured Irish patrol received fire, in their general direction, as they were monitoring a clash between Chadian army and rebel forces," Young said in the statement made available to Reuters.

Other witnesses reported heavy fighting at Goz-Beida, in which smoke rose from the town and firing from machineguns and heavy weapons was heard. A heavily-armed column of rebel vehicles entered the town, but then left a few ho...

Goz-Beida, 70 km (40 miles) by road from Chad's border with Sudan's Darfur region, is surrounded by U.N.-run camps housing Sudanese and Chadian refugees. They are being protected by an Irish battalion, the 97th Infantry, serving with EUFOR.

"At approximately 12.30 p.m. today an armoured Irish patrol received fire, in their general direction, as they were monitoring a clash between Chadian army and rebel forces," Young said in the statement made available to Reuters.

Other witnesses reported heavy fighting at Goz-Beida, in which smoke rose from the town and firing from machineguns and heavy weapons was heard. A heavily-armed column of rebel vehicles entered the town, but then left a few hours later.

Aid workers reported clashes around the compound of the British charity Oxfam, followed by calm.

"The situation in Goz-Beida is currently calm, but tense," Young said, adding the Irish troops were maintaining a presence at the camps for Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians.

...Reuters