Chadians make their way home before the start of the curfew Friday in N'Djamena, Chad. The government imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the country on Thursday.

N’Djamena, Chad ? Turbaned troops patrolled the streets of Chad’s capital in pickup trucks Friday while residents took stock of the damage from days of fierce fighting that brought rebels to the doorstep of the presidential palace.

Hundreds of civilians were killed and about 1,000 were wounded in the weekend violence in the oil-rich Central African nation, Chad Red Cross officials said. Thousands fled into neighboring Cameroon, though many were headed back Friday.

The United Nations peacekeeping chief warned the rivalry between Chad and Sudan – which accuse each other of backing the others’ rebellions – could explode into an international conflict. Their shared border is along Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region. Chad hosts almost a half-million Darfur refugees and Chadians displaced by the spillover from the violence.

Half the stores remained shut in the capital N’Djamena on Friday and many had doors forced open, exposing their bare shelves. Buildings were scorched by rocket fire and pockmarked with bullet holes. Looted goods such as mattresses and car parts were strewn about.

Some looters began giving up stolen goods, fearing house-to-house searches, residents said. Some property was left outside the offices of local administrators or dumped on roadsides.

“This is very difficult,” said Adam Mohammed, 38, who said his electrical appliance shop was destroyed when government troops opened fire on rebels hiding in the capital’s main market. “If the war continues, it will be terrible. We want change, but not this way.” A guard said government helicopter gunships destroyed the market over the weekend.

Mohammed was salvaging some replacement plugs and fuses amid the wreckage of twisted corrugated iron, damaged goods and ashes among remains of the market.

“This can’t help the country develop,” said Abatimi Kosse, a 35-year-old electrician. “How can we move forward like this?”

At the U.N., peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno warned that the accusations being traded between Chad and Sudan increase the climate of mistrust.

Guehenno said the animosity “fuels tensions between the two countries, and once again demonstrate the potential for a conflict of international dimensions in the area.”

Chad repeatedly has said Sudan backed the coup attempt to prevent the deployment of a European Union peacekeeping force meant to protect refugees along its eastern border. The fighting in N’Djamena led to the EU force’s arrival being delayed.

Last week, Chad accused Sudan of deploying its troops with rebels who attacked the strategic eastern Chadian town of Adre. Sudan denied involvement, but it has long resisted an EU troop deployment.

President Idriss Deby, himself a coup leader, is accused of nepotism and embezzling millions of dollars in oil revenue during his 17 years in office.

But the weekend coup attempt, with soldiers expelling the rebels from the capital on Sunday, appears to be a struggle within the elite that long has corruptly controlled Chad. The rebel leaders include former defense minister Mahamat Nouri and Timan Erdimi, a nephew of Deby who was his chief of staff.

European officials hope to send an advance team of 250 troops to Chad early next week to lay the groundwork for an EU force, “if the circumstances allow it,” spokesman Col. Philippe de Cussac said at the force’s headquarters in Paris. About 150 men are already on the ground, and officials were planning to send more troops in about 15 days.