January 3, 2000
Web posted at: 8:28 a.m. EST (1328 GMT)

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Four rocket-propelled grenades were fired Monday afternoon near the Russian Embassy in Beirut, killing a Lebanese security officer and injuring about a half dozen people. One attacker was reportedly killed and another was captured.

The Lebanese Interior Ministry said the embassy was the target of the attack. Russian officials initially denied that their embassy had been targeted, but later said the situation was being analyzed. The Russian Embassy is near a Lebanese police station, which also could have been the target of the attack.

Russian charge d'affaires Andrey Polyakov told CNN that embassy personnel heard the rocket explosions, "followed by heavy shooting."

"Everything was going on in the streets around the embassy compound," Polyakov said, adding that the area was now calm and under the control of Lebanese security forces. An examination of the area around the embassy, he said, revealed "two or three holes presumably of these rocket-propelled grenades."

There were no casualties inside the embassy, Polyakov said.

Officials offered no information about the identity of the attackers, and no one came forward to take responsibility.

Gunmen earlier took over a building in Beirut's Mazraa district, firing grenades and bullets at the crowd and then at the security forces which sealed off the area. A policeman was killed in that fighting and a policeman and civilian were wounded.

The motives for the attacks were not known but a woman who was briefly taken hostage told reporters the gunman said he regretted not killing a Russian. Some Beirut newspapers had said last week that Muslims loyal to rebels fighting the Russian army in Chechnya were being trained in Lebanon, but security officials denied the report.