Chad Pulls Out All Troops from Central African Republic

Chad said Wednesday it had withdrawn its entire contingent from the Central African Republic, in the wake of accusations its troops had carried out an unprovoked attack in the capital Bangui last month.

"The last soldier crossed the border on April 13," Souleyman Adam, the head of the Chadian unit with the African peacekeeping force MISCA, said at a ceremony in the southern town of Sarh.

President Idriss Deby Itno had ordered the pullout after the United Nations said Chadian troops had opened fire in a crowded market in Bangui on March 29 in an attack that left at least 30 people dead.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission said an investigation had found that the troops fired "without any provocation", claims branded defamatory by Chad.

A total of 833 Chadian soldiers returned home after a mission in the violence-ravaged Central African Republic that left 15 of their comrades dead.