BELGRADE - A gunman was wounded and arrested after firing rounds at the US embassy in Sarajevo with automatic weapon on Friday afternoon, police told Bosnian television.

"The man who fired with an automatic weapon was wounded and arrested during the police operation," Bosnian national television quoted police spokesman Irfan Nefic as saying.

Earlier reports said that the gunman was shot dead by police sniper.

Website of Serbian television B92 said the gunman, Mevlid Jasarevic, was born in Novi Pazar, a southwestern Serbian city.

The Wahhabi follower was arrested in Novi Pazar last November, as he was found carrying a knife when several ambassadors, including that from the United States, visited the city.

He was released several hours later. He was also sentenced to 3 years in jail in Vienna for robbery.

According to the website of 24 Hours Info, the gunman exchanged fire with police for about half an hour after his attack on the US embassy. A policeman and several people outside the US. embassy were injured in the incident. No injury was reported inside building.

The website of Bosnian daily Avaz quoted unconfirmed information from police sources that there are four gunmen in all. Two of them were injured by police shot, and the other is believed to be at large.

Bosnia has small minority of followers of Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative brand of Islam. A lot of volunteers from Muslim countries went to Bosnia, and took part in the 1992-1995 civil war among the Croats, Serbs and Muslims.