AFP reporters heard gunfire near the site and saw tanks on the street, while security sources reported that armed men had tried to overrun the complex.
The government later said 19 people were killed in the fighting, of which 18 were members of the 24-strong commando unit that launched the assault.
"There were 20 dead and six injured" among the attackers "and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously", government spokesman and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP.
Hours after the shooting, Koulamallah appeared in a video posted to Facebook, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun on his belt, saying "the situation is completely under control... the destabilisation attempt was put down".
A security source said the attackers were members of the Boko Haram jihadist group, but Koulamallah later said they were "probably not" terrorists, describing them as drunken "Pieds Nickeles" -- a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks.
He said they attacked four guards before entering the presidential complex, where they were "easily overpowered", adding the surviving assailants were "completely drugged".
Landlocked Chad is under military rule and faces regular attacks by Boko Haram, especially in the western Lake Chad region that borders Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.
It recently ended a military accord with former colonial power France and has been accused of interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.
Several security sources said that an armed commando unit opened fire inside the presidency on Wednesday evening around 7:45 pm (1845 GMT), before being overrun by the presidential guard.
All roads leading to the presidency were blocked and tanks could be seen on the streets, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
As civilians rushed out of the city centre in cars and motorcycles, armed police were seen at several points in the district.
Hours before the shootout, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.Deby was in the complex at the time of the attack, according to Koulamallah.
The former French colony hosted France's last military bases in the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November, Chad ended defence and security agreements with Paris, calling them "obsolete".
Around a thousand French military personnel were stationed in the country and are in the process of being withdrawn.France was previously driven out of three Sahelian countries governed by juntas hostile to Paris -- Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Senegal and Ivory Coast have also asked France to vacate military bases on their territory.
The gunfire erupted less than two weeks after Chad held a contested general election that the government hailed as a key step towards ending military rule, but that was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.
A call by the opposition for voters to boycott the polls left the field open for candidates aligned with the president, who was brought to power by the military in 2021 and then legitimised in a May presidential election that opposition candidates denounced as fraudulent.
Deby took power after the death of his father, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.The desert country is an oil producer but ranked fourth from bottom in the United Nations Human Development Index.
To consolidate his grip on power, Deby has reshuffled the army, historically dominated by the Zaghawas and Gorane, his mother's ethnic group.
On the diplomatic front, he has sought new strategic partnerships, including with Russia and Hungary.“There were 18 dead and six injured” among the attackers “and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously”, Chad’s foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said.
Hours after the shooting, Koulamallah appeared in a video, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun on his belt, saying, “The situation is completely under control … the destabilisation attempt was put down.”
The attack coincided with an official visit by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Chad.
Hours before the shooting erupted, Wang Yi had met with Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby and other senior officials.
Deby was in the presidential complex at the time of the attack, according to Koulamallah.
Chad’s Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, right, meets with China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, left, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in N’Djamena on January 8, 2025 [Joris Bolomey/AFP]
In a statement following the incident, China’s foreign ministry said it firmly supports Chad in its effort to keep the country safe and stable.
When asked at a regular news briefing about the deadly gunfire, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman noted that Wang had concluded his visit to the African country.
Deby seized power after rebels killed his father, longstanding President Idriss Deby, in 2021. The older Deby had ruled Chad since a coup in the early 1990s.
A security source told the French news agency AFP news agency that the attackers were members of the Boko Haram armed group, but Koulamallah later said they were “probably not” rebels, describing them instead as drunken “Pieds Nickeles” – a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks.
A security source also told the Reuters news agency that the incident was likely an “attempted terrorist attack”.
“Individuals in three vehicles attacked the military camps around the president’s office, but the army neutralised them,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity
The attack comes less than two weeks after Chad held a contested general election that the government hailed as a key step towards ending military rule, but that was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.
