Gunmen attack Israeli embassy in Mauritania (Roundup)

Feb 1, 2008, 8:03 GMT

Nouakchott/Tel Aviv - Gunmen opened fire at the Israeli embassy in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott before dawn Friday, Mauritanian police sources and Israeli officials said.

The gunmen shouted 'God is Great' in Arabic and fired at the embassy at around 2.20 am (0220 GMT). The Mauritanian soldiers guarding the building responded to the fire, and a brief gunbattle ensued, waking up the Israeli ambassador and his staff.

Ambassador to Mauritania Boaz Bismut said no one had been injured at the embassy. But up to three clients of a nearby restaurant were injured, albeit not seriously, Mauritanian reports quoted witnesses as saying.

Mauritanian police sources estimated the number of attackers at six. They fled by car before police were able to arrest any of them.

The identity of the attackers was not known, but it was suspected they could have links with al-Qaeda.

The attack came after widespread demonstrations in the Islamic republic against Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, which Bismut said was widely covered in the local media in a 'blunt and I would even say exaggerated' way.

The protesters demanded the West African nation cut off its diplomatic ties with Israel.

'All the people at the embassy, both Mauritanians and Israelis, are ok,' Bismut told Israel Radio. 'The gunfire was heard very well,' he said, adding 'it lasted several minutes.'

He later told Israel Army Radio 'Israel and Mauritania have had full diplomatic relations since 1999 - both countries understand the severity of the incident.'

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni telephoned Bismut, and Foreign Ministry Director Aharon Abramovitch said Israel's ties with Mauritania were 'important' to the Jewish state.

He expressed hope they would be broadened further in the future, as a result of the renewed peace process with the Palestinians.

Apart from Egypt and Jordan, Mauritania is the only member of the Arab League to have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

The attack came weeks after organizers cancelled the Lisbon-Dakar Rally due to security concerns following the December 24 killing of four French tourists while picnicking in Mauritania.

The government blamed the incident on Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda.

A few days after the attack on the French tourists, several Mauritanian soldiers were killed in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda's north African branch, the Algerian-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Mauritanian police estimate the number of al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in the country at about 30. The cancellation of the Dakar rally has dealt a heavy blow to Mauritanian tourism.

The 30th Dakar Rally was to have passed through Mauritania between January 11 and January 19. It was the first time in the 30-year history of the rally across the deserts of North Africa that the race was cancelled.

An Israeli delegation was scheduled to travel to Mauritania Friday morning to evaluate the security at the embassy.

Israeli embassies have a history of attacks and security at them is among the tightest in the world.

In July, 2004, the Israeli ambassador's personal bodyguard and four local policemen were killed in a dual suicide bombing outside the Israeli and US embassies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In the deadliest such attack on an Israeli representation, a truck bomb in Buenos Aires in March 1992 killed 28 people, among them four Israelis and four local personnel, and injured some 300 others.