Israel said its embassy in Mauritania was not the primary target of an Al-Qaida shooting attack last week.
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, whose agency is responsible for security at Israeli diplomatic installations abroad, told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Cabinet on Sunday that the embassy in Nouakchott was hit by bullets aimed at an adjacent restaurant last Friday.
Last Friday’s attack, which wounded three people, none of them diplomatic staff, was claimed by an African branch of Al-Qaida.
Israeli authorities originally thought the embassy was the target.
Mauritania is one of only three Arab nations that has full diplomatic ties with Israel. Western intelligence agencies recently identified an Al-Qaida cell in the country.
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