On January 28, 2008, in an attack said to be planned by the Sudanese Defence Minister Abd-er-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, Nouri and his allies left Sudan with 2,000 troops mounted on 250 pick-ups. On February 1 they successfully routed at Massaguet a governative counteroffensive, investing on the following day the Chadian capital. After two days of intense fighting that left hundreds of dead the rebels retreated on February 3 calling for reinforcements. These were intercepted and defeated by Déby's Sudanese ally, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), thus forcing the rebels to give up for good and moved to Mongo in central Chad to regroup.