SEOUL. Sept 8: Several hundred South Korean students, hurling rocks and paint, staged a surprise raid on the USIS center In the southwestern city of Kwangju early today, causing minor damage, officials said, reports AFP.

Police firing tear gas dispersed the students, most of whom were from Chonnam National University and Kwangu university, after they got to the gate of the US Information Service facility, a US official and South Korean police said.

The students, carrying signs reading "Yankee, go home" and "No Intelligence gathering." damaged an intercom system and smashed the windows of patrol cars and police buses parked nearby, the US official in Seoul said.

No casualties were reported. Kwangju, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of here, was the scene of a bloody army crackdown on pro democracy students in 1980 which left at least 200 people dead.

Dissidents alleged the US commander of the combined forces command freed up frontline South Korean units to conduct the crackdown.