White House spokesman Tony Snow speaks during his daily media briefing in the temporary White House media room in Washington yesterday. The United States thanked Syria yesterday for going after gunmen who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Damascus but ruled out any immediate improvement in the frigid ties between the two nations. - Reuters

DAMASCUS (Reuters):

Four men shouting Islamic slogans tried to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Damascus yesterday but their plot was foiled after Syrian guards killed three of them in a shoot-out.

No Americans were hurt but one of the Syrian guards was killed.

Washington, long at odds with Syria, thanked Damascus for its swift response and the White House suggested the countries could turn a page in their troubled relationship.

Syrian state media said two Syrian guards were among 13 people wounded and that the attackers had tried but failed to detonate a car bomb. Security officials said the assailants' arsenal included rocket-propelled grenades but it was not known if they had fired them during the mid-morning fight.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the attackers approached the embassy in two vehicles, one at the front and the other at the rear of the building.

The vehicle in front of the building exploded, said Casey, but Syrian security forces managed to defuse explosives in the second vehicle. This version of events could not immediately be confirmed by the Syrians.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "Syrian officials came to the aid of the Americans. The U.S. government is grateful for the assistance the Syrians provided in going after the attackers."

He added: "We are hoping they will become an ally and make the choice of fighting against terrorists."

Failing to cooperate

The United States lists Syria as a sponsor of terrorism and has accused it of backing the Lebanese-based Hezbollah move-ment and of failing to cooperate in efforts to stop the fighting in neighbouring Iraq.

While the White House hinted at improved ties, a senior State Department official said relations between the two countries were unlikely to change much in the near future.

He said the Syrian response "was their duty. The alternative would have been bad for U.S.-Syrian relations."

Describing the attack, Casey said small "improvised explosive devices" were also found near the embassy complex and were removed by Syrian authorities.

PROLONGED BATTLE

Another State Department official said there was prolonged gunfire during the attack, which lasted for 30 minutes.

Television footage of the scene showed a van packed with gas canisters and detonators taped to them, as well as bloodstains on the pavement and several damaged vehicles, including a white, bullet-riddled car that a truck was preparing to haul away.

"I saw two men in plain clothes and armed with grenades and automatic weapons," said Ayman Abdel-Nour, a Syrian political commentator who was in the area. "They ran toward the compound shouting religious slogans while firing their automatic rifles."

The attack, one day after the fifth anniversary of al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, was the first such shooting and bombing assault on an embassy in Damascus.

Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid said it was a "terrorist operation."