DAMASCUS—Syria’s prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily defended capital Monday, state media said, laying bare the vulnerability of President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The bombing, which killed several other people, highlights the accelerating campaign of violence against government officials — from mid-level civil servants to senior figures in the Syrian regime.

State television said Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was not hurt in the bombing, which struck his convoy as it drove through the posh Mazzeh neighbourhood: home to embassies, government officials and business elites with close ties to the regime. Footage of the scene on state TV showed charred hulks of cars and the burnt-out shell of a bus in a street littered with rubble.

The attack on al-Halqi was the latest on government officials in recent weeks. On April 18, gunmen shot dead the head of public relations at the Ministry of Social Affairs while he dined at a Mazzeh restaurant. A day later, a Syrian army colonel was killed in Damascus; five days after that a bomb killed an official from the Electricity Ministry.

Then there are the larger attacks that have shaken the regime to its core.

Last month, a suicide bombing at a Damascus mosque killed Sheik Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti, a leading Sunni Muslim preacher and outspoken supporter of Assad. That followed a blast last July that killed four top regime officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law and the defence minister, at the Syrian national security building in the capital.

Eager to assure the public that al-Halqi survived Monday’s attack, the state-run Al-Ikhbariya station said the prime minister attended a regular weekly meeting with an economic committee immediately after the bombing. The station broadcast footage of al-Halqi sitting at a table with several other officials.

Later, in its evening news program, state TV showed video of al-Halqi denouncing the attack, calling it a “terrorist and criminal act” and wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.

A government official, speaking anonymously, said two people were killed and 11 wounded in the blast. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group put the death toll at five, including two of al-Halqi’s bodyguards and one of the drivers in his convoy.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s attack, but bombings like the one that struck the prime minister’s convoy have been a trademark of Islamic radicals fighting in the rebel ranks, such as the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra.

As the regime has sought to shore up its strategic position, it has come under allegations of using chemical weapons on at least two occasions dating back to December.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his appeal to Syria to allow a team of experts into the country “without delay and without any conditions” to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use. He said he takes seriously a recent U.S. intelligence report which indicates Syria has twice used chemical weapons.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The Assad government has asked for a UN investigation, but wants it to be limited to an incident near Aleppo in March. Ban has pushed for a broader investigation, including a December incident in the central city of Homs.

A UN team of experts has already begun gathering and analyzing available evidence, but Ban said on-site activities are essential if the U.N. is to establish the facts and “clear all the doubts.”

Read more about: