Nouakchott/Tel Aviv - Six gunmen opened fire at the Israeli
embassy in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott before dawn Friday, a
senior Mauritanian police source confirmed.
The Israeli ambassador to Mauritania, Boaz Bismut, said no Israeli
or Mauritanian staff of the embassy had been injured.
Three people were injured in or near a neighbouring restaurant-
discotheque, including its French owner, who was hit in the back by a
stray bullet. His life was not in danger.
Six men clad in turbans and long robes got out of a car and walked
towards the restaurant, witness Hamza Ould Bilal said.
'They said in Arabic 'let's go,' shouted 'God is great' and fired'
at the embassy, according to Ould Bilal.
The gunmen, who used automatic weapons, launched the attack at
around 2.20 am (0220 GMT).
The Mauritanian soldiers guarding the building responded to the
fire, and a gunbattle of several minutes ensued, prompting the
attackers to flee in a car.
The embassy was empty at the time, but embassy staff were woken up
by the noise which echoed in the city.
The wealthy neighbourhood where the attack occurred was cordoned
off. Security was tightened around US and Western embassies.
Police opened an investigation to 'clarify this affair,' according
to a senior police source.
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.
Ambassador Bismut 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
Israeli officials stressed the importance of Israel's ties with
Mauritania to the Jewish state.
'These relations are important to us because Mauritania is one of
only three Arab states which have full diplomatic relations with
us,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arieh Mekel told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa.
'So the relations are important and we try to foster them. Of
course this attack will not deter us and we will continue to foster
the relationship with Mauritania,' he said.
Mekel said the attack did not appear to have caused damage to the
Israeli embassy building.
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, including four
Israelis and four local personnel, and injured some 300 others.
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