The fighting between gold miners in Kouri Bougoudi, 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Libyan border, also left 40 wounded.

"No civilian should hold a weapon of war," General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said on Saturday during a visit to the region in the vast desert mountain range of Tibesti.

He ordered "the launch of an all-out disarmament operation in the area", according to the statement on Facebook.

"All Chadians and foreigners (operating in the) Kouri Bougoudi gold mining site must leave by Sunday at the latest. A military camp will be set up... to prevent any infiltration", he said.

"I will not leave Kouri Bougoudi until my instructions are applied on the ground," he added.

Kouri Bougoudi lies more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Chadian capital N'Djamena. The Tibesti Mountains, a lawless frontier region in the heart of the Sahara, are a source of ethnic friction and a bolthole for armed groups.

The discovery of gold in the Tibesti 10 years ago sparked a rush of miners from across Chad and neighbouring countries. Many young Chadians from the impoverished centre of the country have headed there, often labouring in dangerous illegal mines.

The violence on May 23 was triggered by a "mundane dispute between two people which degenerated", according to Defence Minister General Daoud Yaya Brahim.

Last year Chad's 30-year ruler Idriss Deby Itno was killed during an operation against rebels in the north.

His place was taken by his son Mahamat at the head of a 15-member military junta.

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