Attack in Damascus fails

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Four men shouting religious slogans tried to blow up the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday but their car bomb failed to go off and Syrian security guards killed three of them in a shootout.

No American diplomats were hurt in the assault, a Syrian official said.

Syrian-U.S. relations have been tense for many years, mainly over Syria's role in Lebanon, the Middle East conflict and Iraq, and its support of militant groups in the region.

The official news agency SANA said three attackers had been killed and a fourth wounded. A Syrian official said earlier that all four assailants had died.

A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed by the attackers, who had been shouting Islamic slogans.

"I saw two men in plain clothes and armed with grenades and automatic weapons," said Ayman Abdel-Nour, a Syrian political commentator who was in the area. "They ran toward the compound shouting religious slogans while firing their automatic rifles."

Syrian state television said the attackers had tried but failed to detonate a car bomb.

Television footage of the scene showed a van packed with gas canisters and detonators taped to them, as well as bloodstains on the pavement and several damaged vehicles, including a white bullet-riddled car that a truck was preparing to haul away.

The embassy flag was flying at half-mast, one day after the fifth anniversary of the September 11 al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

The Rawda area where the attack occurred is one of the most heavily guarded districts in the Syrian capital. It houses security installations and the homes of government officials.

Hours later, the area remained sealed, with sharpshooters deployed on rooftops and top security officials at the scene.

Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid told state television an investigation was under way.

Security officials said the assailants' arsenal included rocket-propelled grenades. It was not known if they had fired them during the mid-morning gunbattle in central Damascus.

U.S. CONFIRMS ATTACK

In Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said: "We can confirm reports of an attack on our embassy in Damascus by unknown assailants. The event appears to be over."

There was no word on the identity of the attackers, but Syrian forces have clashed with Islamist militants several times in recent months, often during raids to arrest them.

In June, four gunmen and a guard were killed when Syrian security forces said they had foiled an attack by Islamist militants near the premises of state-run television in Damascus.

The United States recalled its ambassador from Syria in February 2005, expressing "profound outrage" over the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut. Washington blames Syria for that killing. Damascus denies any involvement.

The United States increased its criticism of Syria during Israel's 34-day war in July and August with Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas, who are supported by Syria and Iran.

Syria, accused by Washington of helping insurgents in Iraq and backing Hizbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement, blames the rise of militancy in the region on U.S. policies such as the Iraq war and U.S. support for Israel.

In the early 1980s, Syria crushed an armed revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The embassy assault occurred one day after the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.