VIENNA, August 19, 2008 (AFP) - An Austrian military patrol, deployed as part of the European peacekeeping force in Chad was caught up in an overnight gun battle, the Austrian government said Tuesday.

No-one was injured in the fighting that took place during the course of Monday night, according to the defence ministry.

The gun battle took place east of Abeche, the main city in eastern Chad, where Austrian soldiers are protecting refugees and thousands of displaced people from the west Darfur region of Sudan.

The soldiers came under fire and retaliated during a patrol, the defence ministry said. Before the incident, they came across a group of civilians who said they had been attacked by armed thieves.

EUFOR, the European peacekeeping force which began a year-long UN mandate in March to help facilitate humanitarian work and protect Sudanese refugees and internally displaced Chadians, is to lead an inquiry into the incident.