Syrian anti-terror forces on Tuesday morning thwarted a terrorist operation by a Takfiri group of four gunmen, who tried to storm the American embassy in Damascus using hand grenades and machines guns. The guards assigned to protect the American embassy clashed with the terrorists, killing three of them and wounding the fourth. One of the guards was killed.
Another 11 Syrians were injured, seven of them were workers of a technical workshop of the Syrian Telecommunication Establishment who were on a repair mission in the area, a man and a woman of Iraqi nationalities in addition to a Chinese citizen who was on the roof of his house in the area.
It should be recalled that the American ambassador to Syria was recalled a year ago, and that staffers had been carrying out the embassy work since then.
According to SANA, the terrorists used in their operation a car they were in and another booby-trapped car that parked in front of the embassy door to detonate it. Experts from Syria's anti-terror forces dismantled the explosive charge and the timing devices inside the car.
Syrian Minister of Interior General Bassam Abdul Majid stressed that the operation had failed to achieve any of the aims or "premeditated dimensions plotted by the criminal sides that stood behind it."
The minister, in statements at the scene of attack, praised the role of anti-terror forces in thwarting this operation and "their alertness to protect the nation and citizens."
He said that the preliminary investigations revealed that the two cars used in this incidents were stolen, adding that investigations area underway to divulge those who are behind this terrorist operation.
The Interior Minister indicated that the scene of the terrorist operation is a public street that any car can use and stop for moments, a thing exploited by the terrorist group.
