doc_text: The British Embassy was hit by shellfire and the Sheraton and Hilton hotels evacuated their clientele, sources said.
  Swiss charge d'affaires Franco Bessoni said on French radio that the palace was taken after bombardment by Iraqi MiG jet fighters.
  "You can see black smoke over there ....
  No one dares to go out.
  You can hear gunfire.
  The entire foreign community is staying indoors," he said.
  "It's chaos, military jets are flying over all the time, Kathy McGregor, a Canadian, said by telephone at about midday."
  She said she could still hear artillery fire.
  The air space over Kuwait was closed, with airliners turned away.
  Iraq also sealed its own borders and airspace.
  Iraq said in a statement that it had "responded to the request from interim government of free Kuwait and decided to cooperate with it."
  It said its troops _
  no numbers were given _
  were in Kuwait to defend the revolution and the Kuwaiti people.
  There was no further identification of the revolutionary government.
  Saddam's ruling council also warned that any foreign troops trying to interfere with its actions would be attacked.
  Kuwaiti forces had engaged the Iraqi invaders with heavy artillery in their failed attempt to repulse them, Kuwaiti officials said earlier.
  The invaders were led by the elite Republican Guard that did the brunt of the fighting in the 1980-88 war with Iran.
  Iraq has an estimated 1 million troops _ including reservists _ among its 16 million people, compared to 20,300 troops in Kuwait.
  Iraqi radio said 15 army divisions were being recalled and ordered all men born between 1960 and 1966 to report to the army within three days.
  Today's fighting quickly sent oil prices surging in international markets.
  The price of North Sea Brent crude for September delivery was quoted early today at $22.30 a barrel against Wednesday's London close of $20.40.
  Iraq, the world's second-largest oil producer, had demanded higher oil prices at last month's OPEC oil cartel meeting in Geneva.
  Saddam had threatened military action against Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates for exceeding their cartel production quotas and driving crude prices down.
  OPEC agreed to cut output to boost prices.
  The invasion came a day after talks between Kuwait and Iraq collapsed in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
  Kuwait had apparently refused to bend to Iraqi demands.
  The crisis began July 17 when Saddam accused Kuwait of trying to wreck the debt-ridden Iraqi economy with oil overproduction and began massing troops on Kuwait's border.
  He also accused Kuwait of stealing $2.4 billion in oil drilled from the border oil field, Rumailah.
  Iraq also demanded the Kuwaiti island of Bubiyan, which is opposite Iraq's only outlets to the Persian Gulf.
  Iraq, which reportedly massed about 100,000 troops at the border on Wednesday, has been engaged in a major defense buildup since Saddam came to power in 1979.
  But the Iran-Iraq war left it with a foreign debt of about $70 billion.
  Iraq borrowed $10 billion to $20 billion from Kuwait wants that debt forgiven.
  In Kuwait early today, the rattle of automatic guns sounded and explosions in rapid succession shook residents from their sleep and the Kuwaiti Cabinet quickly assembled.
  The Cabinet was holed up at the headquarters of the Supreme Defense Council with telephone and telex links cut off, said official sources.
  Kuwaiti radio briefly stopped broadcasting, then went back on the air on a different wavelength.
  A speaker believed to be Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah appealed for Arab support.
  "Oh Arabs, Kuwait's blood and honor is being violated, rush to its rescue ... the children, the women, the old men of Kuwait are calling on you," the speaker said.
  Kuwait, nearly the size of New Jersey, is a former British protectorate that gained independence in 1961.
  Its residents are among the wealthiest in the world because of the country's vast oil reserves.
summary_text: Iraqi troops, led by the elite Republican Guard invaded Kuwait early today as Iraq claimed it was responding to the request from "the interim government of free Kuwait" to defend the revolution and the Kuwaiti people.
  Kuwaiti forces failed in their attempt to repel the invaders with heavy artillery.
  The rattle of automatic weapons and explosions in rapid succession rudely awakened residents.
  The British Embassy was hit by shellfire and the Sheraton and Hilton hotels evacuated their residents.
  Prime Minister Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah appealed on Kuwaiti radio for Arab support.
  Today's fighting quickly sent oil prices surging in international markets.