Antananarivo - Firing was heard coming from the palace of Madagascar's embattled President Marc Ravalomanana Monday evening following a threat by mutinous soldiers to break through barricades erected by the president's supporters.

Around 1,000 people have rallied round the president after the opposition at the weekend took over government buildings and announced the establishment of an interim two-year government.

The president fears an attack on the palace, which is located 14 kilometres south of the capital Antananarivo.

Antananarivo - Madagascar's opposition declared it had taken power Saturday without force from President Marc Ravalomanana's government and named opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as president of a transitional two-year government.

The opposition met no resistance in installing its candidate for prime minister in government offices and in taking over the president's city-centre offices Saturday.

Antananarivo - Mutinous troops in Madagascar claimed Friday to have moved tanks into the capital Antananarivo, raising fears of a further escalation in the violent six-week standoff between the president and opposition.

A spokesman for the soldiers told BBC broadcasting service said the tanks were not on the streets, but at a "secret location."

Soldiers at the country's largest barracks in the capital on Sunday began refusing orders from President Marc Ravalomanana.

Antananarivo  - A peace conference of Madagascar's political parties and civic groups that had been scheduled to start Thursday was postponed indefinitely after opposition leader Andry Rajoelina refused to participate, organizers said.

The Council of Christian Churches in Madagascar, which was tasked by the United Nations with organizing the three-day conference aimed at ending six weeks of unrest on the island, said the dialogue had been postponed "until later."

Antananarivo  - Madagascar's opposition leader Andry Rajoelina said Wednesday he would boycott peace talks planned for Thursday aimed at ending the violent standoff with President Marc Ravalomanana.

Rajoelina told Western diplomats he and other opposition groups would boycott the talks with government and civic groups that the Council for Christian Churches of Madagascar is organizing on behalf of the United Nations.

Antananarivo - Mutinous soldiers from a key army barracks in Madagascar demanded that President Marc Ravalomanana recall the troops that have been deployed on the streets of the capital for weeks, local newspapers reported Tuesday.

The soldiers at the Capsat barracks in Antananarivo, which stores most of the army's weaponry, were addressing a press conference Monday, two days after they began a mutiny against embattled President Marc Ravalomanana.