By Stephanie Hancock

N'DJAMENA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Rebels in Chad claimed support on Sunday from fighters loyal to a defence minister sacked at the weekend and threatened more attacks after both sides said hundreds were killed in the country's worst fighting for months.

President Idriss Deby sacked Minister Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, a former rebel named defence minister in March after a previous peace deal, on Saturday after the minister sought refuge at the Libyan embassy in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

Nour's position was weakened when fighters from his Tama-dominated ex-rebel United Front for Change (FUC) deserted the army in October and fought government troops and militia from Deby's rival Zaghawa clan who were trying to disarm them.

Army troops and ex-FUC fighters clashed again last Friday at the eastern border town of Guereda, after a week of fighting in which Deby himself directed operations against another rebel group, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD).

The UFDD, which ended a month-old Libyan-sponsored ceasefire a week ago, said it had arranged for ex-FUC fighters to join its ranks in its latest offensive against Deby's 17-year rule.

"We are organising for elements of FUC to join us ... There is an old accord in place between them and us. Once they are in place, we will start attacking government positions," UFDD Secretary-General Abakar Tollimi said by satellite phone.

Tollimi, who said he was in an area west of Hadjer Marfaine, a mountainous rebel stronghold near to Chad's border with Darfur, said at least 40 pickup trucks "packed with fighters" from the FUC would join UFDD within the next two days.

FUC officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

OPPOSITION TO PEACEKEEPERS

European Union peacekeepers are due to deploy to eastern Chad in the coming weeks to protect aid operations for around 400,000 civilians forced from their homes by fighting in Chad and neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region.

The EU deployment, already struggling to raise the necessary military support, faces renewed opposition after the fighting between UFDD rebels and government troops -- who have in the past received help from French planes stationed in Chad under a military accord with the former colonial power.

The UFDD said on Friday it "considers itself to be in a state of war against the French army, or against any other foreign forces in the national territory". French troops will make up around half the planned 3,700 EU force.

Key rebel groups signed a deal with Deby in late October, but the UFDD and the Assembly of Forces for Change (RFC) rebels ended the ceasefire last week, unleashing renewed violence and facing Deby with the prospect of rebellions on several fronts.

Rumours circulated at the weekend that over 200 RFC vehicles were moving across north-eastern Chad, and diplomats said Nour's sacking could trigger more bloodletting around Guereda between Nour's Tama fighters and members of Deby's ruling Zaghawa clan.

Nour's FUC fighters were to have disarmed under a peace deal earlier this year, but resisted laying down their guns.

FUC fighters had entered the traditional Tama stronghold of Guereda last Monday after government troops pulled out to fight UFDD rebels further south, and fought on Friday with Chadian army soldiers who came to take back control of the town. Several people were reported killed or injured. (Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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