DAMASCUS, Sept 12: Gunmen launched a brazen daylight assault on the US embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, using grenades, automatic weapons and an explosives-laden van in a foiled ‘terror’ attack that left four people dead.

Three assailants and a member of Syria’s anti-terror squad were killed in a shootout during the bid to storm the embassy, which came just a day after the fifth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.

“The terrorist attack failed. It did not achieve the objectives of the criminals responsible,” Interior Minister Gen Bassam Abdel Majid said during a visit to the scene of the attack.

He said three ‘terrorists’ were killed and one was wounded in clashes with Syrian forces charged with protecting the embassy, located in the high-security diplomatic quarter of the capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The state news agency SANA also said an anti-terror operative was killed and another 14 people were wounded, including an embassy guard and passers-by in the area, which is near the offices of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“All embassy personnel and their family members are safe,” the US embassy said in a statement, adding that the local guard was injured by gunfire and was in stable condition.

A Chinese diplomat was also slightly injured by a stray bullet.

It was the latest in a series of attacks against US missions, the most recent being in Karachi in March. —AFP