* Chad says readying forces to enter Sudan * Plans to strike regrouping rebels * Sudan issues warning to Chad (Writes through with Sudan comment, background) N'DJAMENA, May 19 (Reuters) - Chad said its armed forces would enter Sudan "in the coming hours" to intercept what it said was a planned new rebel assault around its eastern border, its interim defence minister said on Tuesday. Sudan denied Chadian rebels were gathering inside its borders for an assault and urged its neighbour not to go through with its threatened raid. Tensions between the two oil-producing nations have escalated in recent days, with Chad on Sunday confirming its air force had carried out cross-border raids on what it called Sudanese-backed rebels. "This new situation will prompt us in the coming hours to pass across the border to deal with these pockets of mercenaries," Chad's Adoum Younousmi said in a statement. "We have asked our troops to deploy and those units which are due to intervene are in the process of gathering around these sites ... The Chadian government will use its right of pursuit," Younousmi added. Chad said the weekend raids had destroyed seven groups of fighters and that its ground forces had captured 100 prisoners on the border before they pulled back. Chad and Sudan have long traded accusations of backing each others' rebels, which have waged simmering rebellions in the remote shared border region. Sudan called last week's bombing raids on its territory an "act of war" and issued another warning on Tuesday. "We would urge Chad to refrain from violating the sovereignty of the country and stop its aggression," Ali Youssef Ahmed, an official in Sudan's foreign ministry, told Reuters. "Chad needs to come to its senses and respect the agreement which was signed in Doha. We hold them responsible for any repercussions that may arise from such actions." Chad and Sudan held reconciliation talks in Doha earlier this month and agreed to refrain from using force to resolve their conflicts. But N'Djamena accused Khartoum of sending armed groups over its border just hours after the deal was signed. Ahmed dismissed the accusation, saying the Chadian rebels had launched their attack from inside Chad, without help from Sudan, before the peace deal was agreed. "After they (the Chadian rebels) were defeated, they came to Sudan, seeking refuge. N'Djamena has said they are gathering for another attack. This is not true." He added Sudan was still keen to seek a diplomatic resolution to the crisis and was hoping France and the United States would intervene to stop any Chadian attack. Most of the fighting has not spread from Sudan's Western Darfur region and Chad's east. But last year rebel offensives reached both countries' capitals before being beaten back. (Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens; Writing by Mark John and David Lewis; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Adnan Mufti, head of the Kurdish parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in the city of Arbil April 16, 2009. The United Nations will hand to Iraq on Wednesday a ...
