Gunmen Attack Us Embassy in Syria

Four gunmen shouting religious slogans were reported to have attempted to storm the US embassy in Damascus today.

Reuters reported that at least one Syrian guard had died and quoted a Syrian official as saying that all four gunmen had been killed and the embassy surrounded by security forces.

The Associated Press, citing the Syrian interior ministry, said three attackers had been killed and one wounded.

All the US diplomats at the embassy, in the city's Rawda neighbourhood, were safe, the official quoted by Reuters said.

The gunmen reportedly blew up a car outside the embassy and exchanged heavy fire with Syrian forces.

A witness said two gunmen stopped a car on the street in front of the building. The gunmen got out and shot at the Syrian guards in front of the entrance before blowing up the car.

Other witnesses described seeing smoke rising from the area.

There was no official word on the identity of the attackers, but Syrian forces clashed with Islamist militants several times last year, usually in raids carried out to arrest them.

Peter Ford, Britain's ambassador to Syria, told CNN the incident did not seem similar to an al-Qaida attack, but appeared to be "an operation by a small group".

The US ambassador to Syria was withdrawn last year after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. There is, however, understood to be a sizeable consular presence remaining at the embassy.

Rawda is home to security installations, other embassies and the residences of senior Syrian officials.