UN chief Ban Ki-moon "is following developments in eastern Chad with increasing concern," the UN said in a statement, calling on Chad and Sudan to resume peace talks and urging respect for UN humanitarian operations.

The government said that its forces had bombed the rebels but that there was no fighting on the ground so far in the latest rebel incursion, which has once again ratcheted up tensions between Chad and its neighbour.

Chadian Interior and Public Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bashir said forces were also being dispatched to intercept a column of rebel fighters spotted in the Central African Republic (CAR) near the border with Chad.

CAR officials could not be reached Wednesday to comment on the report.

Bashir accused Sudanese President Omar El-Beshir of ordering "mercenaries" to attack Chad and vowed that the rebels would be wiped out, saying: "These mercenaries will have no chance of returning to their master."

Chad and Sudan have had tense relations for years and each country accuses the other of trying to destabilise its government. The latest peace deal was signed only on Sunday in Doha and now appears to have fallen through.

Chad's Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) rebels said in a statement that they had fought a "very short battle" with government troops on Tuesday near the border with Sudan and the Central African Republic and were advancing.

"UFR forces continue to progress towards total control of Chad's main towns," rebel spokesman Ali Ordjo Hemchi was quoted as saying.

"We are doing everything in our power to reach Ndjamena. Our final objective is Ndjamena," another rebel official told AFP by telephone.

Hemchi said the rebels captured 12 army vehicles and destroyed nine others in Tuesday's clash between the towns of Tissi and Haraz-Mangue, claiming the government troops fled. He gave no details of casualties.

Bashir said however that the rebels had been "dealt with by our aircraft."

Chad said Tuesday that rebels had launched an assault backed by Sudan, using several hundred vehicles. Khartoum has denied any part in the offensive.

In its statement on Wednesday, the UN said Ban "appeals to all parties to respect the humanitarian character of the operations of the United Nations and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in eastern Chad."

Ban also asked all states in the region "to prevent their territories and nationals from being used to aid armed groups" and urged Chad and Sudan "to bridge their differences using diplomatic and other peaceful means."

The African Union has also expressed "deep concern" over the hostilities.

Heavy gunfire was heard on Wednesday by residents in the eastern town of Goz Beida, one of them told AFP.

Bashir implicitly confirmed this, stating that planes had attacked the rebels around Kerfi which is about 45 kilometers (27 miles) to the south.

Goz Beida remained mostly calm, but the United Nations has urged its staff and the personnel of aid agencies helping hundreds of thousands of refugees to avoid leaving settlements and camps if possible.

Peace between Chad and Sudan is regarded as essential to any lasting settlement to a six-year-old uprising in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where Chad's rebels also have rear bases.

Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat met his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner in Paris and later said Chad was not seeking immediate military aid to counter the new offensive.

"For the time being, the Chadian army has the capacity to address this new threat," Mahamat told RFI radio, but he called on the AU and the UN Security Council to condemn "this blatant act of large-scale aggression."

France has 1,100 soldiers serving in its former colony under a bilateral accord and 800 of its troops are serving in a UN-led force that last month took over from a European mission to protect refugees in camps.

In February last year, rebels battled their way to Ndjamena in western Chad in a bid to overthrow President Idiss Deby Itno before being beaten back with logistical help from some French forces.

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