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SV South Yemen Embassy in Paris.
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CU Street Sign Rue Georges Bizet.
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GV Front of Embassy with Yemen flag flying. (2 SHOTS)
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GV INT Courtyard of Embassy showing damaged building and windows. (8 SHOTS)
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GV Photographer taking shots of damage.
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: The South Yemen Embassy in Paris was blasted by two rockets on Monday (16 February), apparently in retaliation for a bomb attack last October on a Paris synagogue. No one was hurt. Police at first thought extreme right-winners were responsible for the synagogue bomb, but said later they suspected foreign guerrillas, possibly from the Middle East. South Yemen, officially known as The People's Republic of Yemen, is a Marxist-ruled Arab state at the southern end of the Red Sea.

SYNOPSIS: Pamphlets found nearby, the words "Remember Copernic" daubed on the wall and a telephone call showed the attack was committed in the name of the victims of the blast at the Rue Copernic synagogue.

Police said the rockets which tore into the first floor of the Embassy were fired from the courtyard of a neighbouring apartment block. They appear to have been aimed well below Embassy staff living quarters in the upper storeys, but caused serious structural damage to the building.

In Aden, South Yemen accused "agents of imperialism and Zionism" for the attack and demanded the French government apprehend those responsible. Last year there were a number of apparent acts of reprisal against Neo-Nazis for the synagogue bombing.