Syrian Prime Minister survives assassination bid

DAMASCUS: Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi escaped an assassination bid yesterday, surviving a blast that targeted his convoy in Damascus, Syrian state television reported.

One of his bodyguards was killed in the attack which left a second bodyguard and his driver seriously injured, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said.

“The terrorist explosion in Mazzeh was an attempt to target the prime minister’s convoy and Dr Wael al-Halqi was unharmed,” state television reported.

The Observatory reported that a car bomb targeted Halqi’s convoy as it passed through the Mazzeh district of Damascus.

Director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the bomb appeared to have been detonated from a distance.

State television said the explosion happened near a public garden and a school in the neighbourhood, a well-secured district that is home to embassies, government buildings, intelligence facilities and several political figures.

“I was walking in the street when suddenly there was a very powerful explosion and I saw a car burning and people running,” a young man told AFP at the scene.

“I heard glass shattering,” he added, saying he had tried to hide for fear a second explosion would follow.

An AFP photographer at the scene said several vehicles were destroyed in the blast, including a bus burned out by the explosion. The windshields of other cars nearby were also blown out.

State television al-Ikhbariya broadcast footage of Halqi attending a government meeting, but without indicating whether the images were from after the attack or not.

Mazzeh is an upscale neighbourhood in western Damascus, home to a number of senior regime figures.

Halqi was appointed prime minister in August 2012 after his predecessor Riad Hijab defected to the opposition.

The last major attack in Damascus was on April 9, when a massive blast killed at least 15 people in the centre of the capital. — AFP