Armed robbers flee Spanish consulate in Switzerland

Three armed men fled empty handed after breaking into the Spanish consulate in the Swiss capital yesterday and briefly trapping two employees inside.

Swiss police, unaware the suspected robbers had left, ringed the building with dozens of snipers and an armoured personnel carrier. The employees, also unaware the men were gone, stayed in an upstairs room before walking to freedom later.

A consulate driver, who arrived shortly after the intruders forced their way into the building, was injured by one of the men but managed to escape and alert the police, police said.

"It is to be assumed that the act has a criminal and not a political background," police said in a statement. A spokesman said nothing was missing.

There was no word on how the intruders - said to be speaking French - had managed to escape the consulate, located in Berne's leafy embassy district near the historic centre.