Gambian President Yahya Jammeh returned home overnight after a failed coup launched while he was outside the country, a military source said Wednesday, as fears mounted of possible reprisals by his regime.

A group of heavily armed men led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace in the capital Banjul before dawn on Tuesday, but were repelled by Jammeh's forces.

A group of disaffected soldiers launched a foiled coup bid in The Gambia on Tuesday while the president was abroad, military and diplomatic sources said. 

Forces loyal to President Yahha Jammeh, who has ruled the small west African nation for 20 years, killed three suspects including the alleged ringleader -- an army deserter, a military officer said. 

Amnesty International accused The Gambia on Tuesday of torturing citizens arrested in the latest crackdown on homosexuality in the conservative west African nation.

The campaign group said the country's spy agency and presidential guard had beaten and forced confessions from five men, including a 17-year-old, and three women since November 7.

Screening air travelers on departure from Ebola-hit countries is far smarter than monitoring them when they arrive abroad, experts said on Tuesday.

Instead of relying on a shield at their own borders, countries should help Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone boost capacity to spot Ebola cases, they said.

President Yahya Jammeh has appointed a Nigerian man as Gambia's top judge after sacking the only woman to have held the post, his office said on Thursday.

Emmanuel Fagbenle takes the role of "acting chief justice", according to a presidential statement, after Ghanaian-born Mabel Yamoa Agyemang was "relieved of her appointment" without explanation on Monday.

The first female to be appointed as Gambia's top judge has been sacked by President Yahya Jammeh after just six months in the job, a judicial official said on Wednesday.

Ghanaian-born chief justice Mabel Yamoa Agyemang "has been relieved of her appointment effective Monday (February 3)", the senior judicial officer told Agence France Presse, without giving a reason.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has lifted a ban on one of the country's leading newspapers and a radio station "as a goodwill gesture for the New Year", according to his office.

Officials from the feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA) stormed the premises of community station Teranga FM and private daily The Standard ordered them shut down in August and September 2012.

The Gambia jailed a leading opposition politician on Wednesday for sedition after he helped two supporters planning to flee to Finland, according to an Agence France Presse correspondent present at the trial.

Judge Emmanuel Nkea handed United Democratic Party treasurer Amadou Sanneh a five-year sentence for writing an open letter backing the activists, who intended to seek asylum in the northern European country.

Taiwan said Monday it had terminated diplomatic relations with Gambia, after the West African nation's move to cut ties shocked Taipei and left it with a dwindling number of foreign allies.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh caught Taiwan unawares Thursday when he said his government had broken off diplomatic ties after 18 years owing to "strategic national interest.”

Taiwan has sent senior diplomats to Gambia in a last-ditch effort to restore diplomatic relations after they were unilaterally broken off by the West African nation, officials said Sunday.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao said officials including Richard Shih, the island's ambassador to Gambia from 2008 through 2011, had arrived in Banjul.