Syria PM escapes attempt on life

Damascus, April 29: Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi escaped an assassination bid on Monday, surviving a blast against his convoy in Damascus, in the latest attack on top members of President Bashar alAssad’s regime.

The attack came as Republican lawmakers in the United States stepped up calls for American action following claims Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against its population during its battle against an uprising that is now in its third year.

Syrian state television said Halqi was unharmed in the blast in the Mazzeh district of the capital.

“The terrorist explosion in Mazzeh was an attempt to target the prime minister's convoy and Dr Wael alHalqi was unharmed,” state television reported, adding that the blast had caused casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said one of Halqi’s bodyguards had been killed. “A second bodyguard and the driver are in critical condition,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that the convoy appeared to have been targeted by a remotely-detonated car bomb. State tele- Russia warns on WMD search in Syria Moscow: Russia on Monday warned the West against using a search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Syria as an excuse for ousting President Bashar al-Assad along the lines of the notorious hunt for deadly arms in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov questioned why UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon was calling for a fact-finding mission in Syria by citing unproven claims of the regime’s use of chemical weapons in December. — AFP vision said the explosion happened near a public garden and a school in the neighbourhood, a well-secured district. — AFP