Friday, February 01, 2008

Israeli embassy in Mauritania attacked by Islamic gunmen

From JPost.com Feb 1, 2008 by JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP:

... six gunmen opened fire on the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott, in the northwest African country of Mauritania early Friday morning, trading fire with guards before fleeing and screaming "Allah Akbar" .....

....TV network Al Jazeera said that five people had been wounded in the attack, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that since the attack occurred in the early hours of the morning at a time when few embassy workers had arrived, none of the embassy workers was hurt.

....."Israel and Mauritania have had full diplomatic relations since 1999 ... both countries understand the severity of the incident," [Israeli Ambassador to Mauritania, Boaz] Bismut told Army Radio.

....Last week Mauritanian protesters mounted pressure on their government to cut ties with Israel as a punishment for alleged Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Among the demonstrators were members of the government's main opposition....

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