4 Dead in attack on vacant UN Office in Damascus, Syria! Unknown Attackers

[KoKo]

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer

DAMASCUS, Syria - Gunmen attacked a former United Nations (news - web sites) office in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus late Tuesday, setting off a battle with police that pelted nearby buildings with bullets and grenades. The government said two attackers, a policeman and a civilian were killed.

Syria has not seen such violence since the 1980s, when the government put down an insurgency by Islamic militants.

The vacant building was formerly occupied by the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, which oversees an agreement between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. It was extensively damaged by fire during the gunbattle.

"Unidentified terrorists attacked a U.N. office building in Damascus and this office is surrounded by many embassies as well," Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, said in a telephone interview from Washington.

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