Litter of Libyan Retreat Strewn Across Chadian Desert From: The Washington Post | Date: April 13, 1987| Author: Jonathan C. Randal | Copyright 1987 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

Five miles north of this Saharan oasis, 11 Soviet-made tanks sat where they were abandoned by their Libyan crews before having fired a shot, offering vivid testimony to the recent rout of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's troops in northern Chad.

Numerous such scenes in this desolate region support Chadian assertions that thousands of Libyan fighters, including immigrant African laborers conscripted as "Islamic legionnaires," retreated in panic last month from an offensive by mobile and lightly...