Thousands of civilians fled Chad?s capital N?Djamena yesterday after rebel forces pulled back from a two-day assault, but the rebels said they would attack again to try to topple President Idriss Deby.

Deby?s government, reeling from the latest strike on the city in under two years, said it had beaten off more than 2,000 insurgents who stormed into the riverside capital of the central African state on Saturday, riding aboard armed pickup trucks.

But the rebels, who call Deby?s 18-year rule corrupt and dictatorial, warned N?Djamena?s population to flee their homes. They said their withdrawal from the city late on the day before was ?tactical? and that they were regrouping for another attack. ?We?re at the gates of the city,? rebel spokesman Abderamane Koullamalah told Radio France International (RFI).

Yesterday, residents said N?Djamena was relatively calm, but a government helicopter flew overhead and sporadic detonations could still be heard. Some people ventured cautiously out. Government military vehicles moved around the city. Bodies of dead civilians were visible in some streets, killed in two days of chaotic fighting and widespread looting which badly damaged the state radio building and the main market.

Residents said they feared another rebel assault. Rebel fighters had gone from house to house in some areas, telling occupants to leave because they planned to attack again. A Reuters correspondent across the Logone-Chari river from the city reported a flood of refugees streaming over the Ngueli bridge into Cameroon. ?I saw one girl wounded from a stray bullet in the back. There were children crying, almost all of them were frightened,? Reuters Television correspondent Emmanuel Braun said.

Local Cameroon authorities estimated some 15,000 people had fled across the river to the small border town of Kousseri.

Chad?s Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-mi said N?Djamena was under the control of Deby?s government forces. ?The battle of N?Djamena is over,? he said, speaking to RFI from Addis Ababa where he had attended an African Union summit. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres estimated that several hundred people had been injured.

Chad says the rebels, who include some of Deby?s former allies, are backed by Sudan. Khartoum denies this and in turn accuses the Chadians of supporting rebels in its Darfur region.