US Embassy Blast In Syria Foiled

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/5337458.stm

Syria 'foils' US embassy attack

Fire-fighters and other emergency services were sent to the scene
A bomb attack on the US embassy in Damascus has been foiled by local security forces, Syrian officials say.
Attackers tried to drive two cars at the embassy compound but three men were killed by guards and a fourth was captured, the interior minister said.

One car bomb went off but a second failed, he told Syrian state TV, adding that it was being examined for clues.

One embassy guard was also reportedly killed but there are no indications of US casualties in the incident.

Security forces have sealed off the Rawda area, which houses other embassies and security installations.

Damascus has seen sporadic unrest in recent years, including a suspected attempt to bomb the Canadian embassy.

There is currently no US ambassador to Damascus and very limited contact between the governments.

'Religious slogans'

"Three terrorists were killed and one was wounded," the Interior Minister, Gen Bassam Abdel Majid, said.




In pictures: Embassy clash

It was, in his words, a "terrorist operation targeting the US embassy" and involving home-made bombs and automatic weapons.

"One [attacker] was captured, injured, and the investigation may reveal where they came from or their backgrounds," the minister added.

Ayman Abdel-Nour, a Syrian political commentator who was in the area, said the attackers had run "toward the compound shouting religious slogans while firing their automatic rifles".

Witnesses said after the initial exchange of fire two of the attackers sought refuge in a nearby building, but were pursued and gunned down by security forces.

TV footage from the scene showed pools of blood on the pavement and what appeared to be improvised explosive devices using pipes and gas canisters.

A Chinese diplomat was treated in hospital for minor injuries caused by a stray bullet, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

He had been standing on the roof of the Chinese embassy, which is situated close to the US compound.

Heightened tension

Syria is an authoritarian state where the security forces exert tight control on the population and the media.

A BBC correspondent in the region says the reported attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between the Washington and Damascus, with bitterness in Syria over US support for Israeli military action in Lebanon.

The US accuses Syria of supporting the insurgency in Iraq and not doing enough to prevent weapons going to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

In June, four people died when Syrian security forces said they had foiled an attack by Islamist militants near the state-run television studios.

In April 2004, four people were killed in a clash between Syrian police and a team of suspected bombers in the diplomatic quarter of Damascus.

The authorities accused Islamist militants of trying to blow up an explosives-laden car near the Canadian embassy.

Are you in Damascus? Have you witnessed anything? If so, send us your story.
I live in Rouda (the area in which the Embassy is situated) and from the roof of my apartment saw the explosion and heard the gunfire attack. Soon after Syrian police and helicopters surrounded the area.
Nushin Alloo, Damascus, Syria


I live about half a mile from the embassy and heard gunshots coming from that direction as I was leaving my apartment on my way to work. I thought they were firecrackers. As I got closer to Rawda I saw white smoke slowly rising from the street in front of the US embassy. Later, I saw more smoke closer to the building but it was black. There were men with machine guns who were not wearing uniforms of any kind surrounding the fountain in the square and hiding behind trucks while shooting in the direction of the embassy. It sounded as if someone were shooting back at them. I couldn't tell if it was the Marines who guard the embassy shooting at them or someone else. I waited around with a crowd of locals (I'm American) watching the scene unfold but things started to get a little hairy so I left about half an hour ago. There were a number of fire trucks and ambulances around, but they weren't doing anything except waiting and watching. Like the rest of us. There was too much gunfire to get close enough to the scene to tell if there was anyone injured or for the emergency workers get close enough to do anything about it. The police were pushing the crowd back as a Red Crescent vehicle arrived and I decided to leave a few seconds later when a busload of uniformed Syrian soldiers arrived. I couldn't tell if they were armed, I just got out of there.
Greg , damascus, syria

According to constant western media and govt's are syria's govt not the stem of terror causing attacks?

strange why they saved the embassy from being reduced to rubble???

well done syria!

you will still be sanctioned regardless of your efforts.

[SUT]

It could have been a very good pretext for war with Syria. I am so glad that they took over the plan.

[Xerxes]

yeah bravo to Syria, ... and expacially to those Syrian secuirty who died during the attack. had they performed in a lesser zeal, no doubt Fox and CNN would have launch a propaganda campaing ruining Syria case.

right now USA is working hard to drive a wedge btwn Iran and Syria, so this might work against Iran.