Embassy occupiers want Hussein out

Armed dissidents calling for Saddam Hussein’s overthrow took the ambassador hostage today when they occupied the Iraqi embassy in Berlin.

They threatened staff with guns when they burst into the recently opened embassy in an exclusive district of the German capital.

A number of hostages, including the acting ambassador, were taken hostage, police said. Two staff members were injured by pepper spray.

An Iraqi diplomat said a foreign government may be behind the attack.

"Certainly they have been pushed by somebody else, some government perhaps," said

Mohammad Al-Douri, Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations. "We don’t know. But it seems like that."

The gunmen, calling themselves the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany issued a statement:

"We are taking over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin and thereby take the first step toward the liberation of our beloved fatherland.

"Our action is peaceful and limited in time," said the statement received by two news agencies in Germany. "Our path is the liberation of Baghdad."

Manfred Charnow, who lives 50 yards from the embassy, said he believed he heard two volleys of shots at the embassy. But police could not confirm that shots were fired.

The injuries of the embassy personnel were caused by pepper spray and not by gunfire, said police spokesman Joerg Nittmann.

A police statement said "several members of the Iraqi opposition ... threatened several people with weapons."

It did not elaborate, and spokesmen had no information on the nature of the weapons.

Dozens of police, some in bulletproof vests, moved in to seal off the embassy and surrounding streets in the elegant Zehlendorf district.

A small group of officers in bulletproof vests and helmets were seen heading toward the embassy, which was out of sight behind trees.

Nittmann estimated that between 10 and 12 people were inside the building in total.

Two embassy staff members were injured, he said, adding that he had no news on their condition. The incident began at about 1325 BST, and Iraqi security staff were believed to be among those held.

"The hostages seem to have been taken after an argument with staff," Nittmann said.

Police said they expected to establish contact with the gunmen. Nittmann said there were no signs of violence inside the building.

Meanwhile, German TV said it had spoken by phone with the hostage takers, who claimed that 20 people had occupied the building and added that they would talk with the hostages.

The embassy seizure came at a time when Germany is expressing opposition to US led military action to remove President Saddam, who is accused of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.

In London, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress said he believed the Iraqi Democratic Opposition of Germany was a new group, founded several months ago. He was not familiar with its members.

The spokesman said the Iraqi opposition "has never resorted to any violent action outside the country against the regime."

In Washington, deputy US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said that "we are not aware of the group."

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US officials had no contact with the group and believe the siege is improper and does not help in the goal to eventually overthrowing Saddam.

The group’s statement, written in nearly flawless German, said the embassy occupation was designed to "make the German people, its organisation and political forces aware that our people has the will to freedom and will put it into practice."

The new Iraqi diplomatic mission opened only on July 17 after moving from Bonn, the former West German capital. German police carry out irregular patrols around the perimeter, but can only enter the embassy grounds with Iraqi permission.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official, said "armed terrorists of the American and Zionist intelligence mercenaries attacked our embassy building."

The ministry is in "contacts with German authorities to adopt speedy measures to evacuate the embassy building," the official added.