Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the Israeli embassy in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott early on Friday, police said.
The attackers exchanged fire with guards at the embassy. A nearby bar in the centre of Nouakchott was also hit before the assailants fled.
The attack followed recent public calls by political parties in Mauritania, an Islamic Republic which straddles black and Arab Africa, for the government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel. The country is one of the few Arab League states to have relations with Israel.
Armed Mauritanian soldiers immediately cordoned off the embassy building.
Emergency services initially reported some people were wounded in the shooting, but Israel’s ambassador to Mauritania, Boaz Bismuth, said all embassy staff were unhurt.
”At 2.20 this morning, there was shooting at the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott. All the embassy staff, Israeli and Mauritanian, are safe,” he told Reuters.
The attack came just weeks after the Lisbon-Dakar rally was cancelled due to fears of an armed Islamist threat in the West African country following two attacks in late December in which four French tourists and some soldiers were killed.
Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda’s North African branch claimed responsibility for these recent killings.
”I have received many phone calls from Mauritanian friends who are very concerned. That is the only positive thing in a very sad night,” Bismuth said.
”It only happened a few hours ago, but a shooting on a foreign embassy is a very serious incident.” – Reuters