3 Killed Outside U.S. Embassy in Syria

Syrian security forces and firefighters are seen in front of the US embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006. Syrian security forces killed three attackers, the government said, after gunmen apparently blew up a car outside the U.S. Embassy and exchanged fire with Syrian guards on Tuesday in a bold attack on Damascus' diplomatic neighborhood. (AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi) (Bassem Tellawi - AP)

State television said four armed attackers "attempted to storm" the embassy, using automatic rifles and hand grenades. Syrian security guards attacked the gunmen, killing three and wounding a fourth, TV said.

The attackers came in two cars and parked one that was rigged with explosives in front of the embassy but did not blow it up, state-run TV reported. Explosive experts dismantled the bomb, it said.

But a witness told The Associated Press that two gunmen stopped a car on the street in front of the embassy, got out of the car, shot at the Syrian sentries in front of the building's entrance and then detonated the car.

The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the security personnel shot back, and security forces in the area rushed to the scene.

Television footage showed a delivery van loaded with pipe bombs strapped to large propane gas canisters outside the Embassy. Had the bombs detonated, the explosions would have caused massive damage.

The footage also showed the charred remains of a smaller car parked several feet behind the van.

A Syrian who works at the American Embassy, contacted by telephone, said there were no U.S. casualties. The employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the incident started just after 10 a.m.

Damascus has been hit by militant attacks in the past. 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 at that time accused Islamic militants of trying blow up an explosives-laden car near the Canadian embassy.