The Chadian capital N'Djamena was on alert on Thursday after 19 people died during clashes between security forces and gunmen in the presidential complex.

The assault came after President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno returned to his compound following talks with China's Foreign Minister Wang-Yi.

Playing down Wednesday night's assault, government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said on social media: "It was a little incident ... everything is calm. This whole attempt at destabilisation has been thwarted."

Eighteen assailants were killed in the gunfight and six wounded, the government said. One soldier from the presidential guard also died in the exchanges with the commando unit and three were injured as tanks moved onto the city's streets.

Earlier security sources described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack. But Koulamallah described the gunmen as drunken "Pieds Nickelés" - a reference to a French comic strip featuring hapless crooks.

Change

Chad faces regular attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram, especially in the western Lake Chad region that borders Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.

On 20 December, Chad gave France six weeks to clear out its military personnel. The order came less than a month after Chad said it wanted to terminate the security and defence agreements that have linked it with France since the end of the colonial era.

The declaration caught French diplomats off guard, but Déby stressed the move was not intended to strain ties with France, which has also been asked to withdraw troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years. Senegal and Ivory Coast have also asked France to vacate military bases on their territory.

"The decision in no way constitutes a rejection of international cooperation or a calling into question of our diplomatic relations with France," Déby said. "It is not a question of replacing one power with another."