Evacuations continue amid Chad fighting

Paris: Thousands fled the Chadian capital N'Djamena and many expatriates were still waiting to be evacuated on Monday as the first planeload of evacuees landed at a Paris airport, officials said.

Hundreds have been injured in two days of chaotic street fighting since a rebel assault reached N'Djamena. The French army has set up stations to protect fleeing expatriates.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the army had rescued civilians holed up in the US embassy, and some 40 others at a German embassy.

"They were under bombardment, it took a real military commando operation, wonderfully executed by France, to get them out," Kouchner said.

A second flight of evacuees from Chad is scheduled to arrive in Paris on Tuesday from a French base in Gabon.

Kouchner called the rebel offensive on N'Djamena a cruel attack, and said growing international condemnation could lead to other forms of intervention.

Troops loyal to Chadian President Idriss Deby struck back at the rebels besieging the presidential palace on Sunday.