Fighting restarts around palace in Chad capital

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Fighting restarted on Sunday around the presidential palace in the Chadian capital N'Djamena where rebels forces have surrounded President Idriss Deby and loyalist troops, residents said.

They said the sound of heavy weapons and machine gun fire could be heard coming from the direction of the presidency complex in the centre of the dusty capital.

"The night was calm but the firing has started up again since about 5 o'clock," an employee at the Novotel hotel, which is located not far from the palace, told Reuters.

Rebels seeking to topple Deby fought their way into the capital on Saturday and encircled the palace, demanding that the president leave. But at least two government ministers said that he was remaining inside at the head of loyal troops.

Residents said French military Mirage jets had taken off from the French military base in N'Djamena on Sunday.

A correspondent for Radio France International in N'Djamena reported that they were flying low over the city.

Foreign citizens were also sheltering in the Meridien hotel in the capital, waiting to be evacuated.

"Day only broke 20 minutes or a half hour ago and the heavy artillery has already begun," Katie-Jay Scott of the humanitarian organisation Stop Genocide Now wrote early on Sunday from the Meridien hotel in a blog posted on the group's Website.

France has started evacuating French and other foreign nationals.