Syrian US embassy attacked by gunmen
Burnt car near the US embassy compound in Damascus
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Tuesday, 12, Sep 2006 04:25
A security guard is said to have been killed after the US embassy in Damascus was attacked by four armed gunmen.
Reports from the Syrian capital suggest that the men attempted to storm the embassy in a car full of explosives, but failed to achieve their objectives.
Three of the four are thought to have been killed, while the other has been detained.
The US state department confirmed that the embassy was attacked by "unknown assailants" and that the incident seemed to be over.
Syrian officials say that the incident is being investigated.
With the attack coming the day after the September 11th attacks on the US were marked in fifth anniversary memorials, suspicion has unsurprisingly fallen on al-Qaida-linked extremists in the region.
Anxiety has been heightened by the release of a video fronted by al-Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri yesterday, which called for attacks on American interests in the Middle East.
Syria and the US do not enjoy entirely friendly relations but America has had an embassy in Damascus since August 1952.
The embassy is in the affluent Rawda area of Damascus, which itself is situated in the south-west corner of Syria, on the border with Lebanon.