N'DJAMENA — Chad's long-serving President Idriss Deby has died from injuries suffered on the frontline, an African diplomatic source said on Tuesday.
It comes following attacks in the north of the country by rebels.
Rebels of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (Front Pour l'Alternance et La Concorde au Tchad) (FACT) reported in a statement on Monday that Deby was injured and on the run.
The news of Deby's death comes a day after provisional results from the election on April 11 projected he would win a sixth term in office, with 80 percent of the vote.
Deby's son, Mahamat Kaka, was named interim president by a transitional council of military officers, spokesman Azem Bermendao Agouna said in a broadcast on state television.
Deby, 68, came to power in a rebellion in 1990 and was one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, surviving numerous coup attempts and rebellions.
Mr Déby "breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield", an army general said in a statement read out on state TV.
He had gone to the front line at the weekend to visit troops battling rebels based across the border in Libya. — Agencies
