Syrian Prime Minister still attends meeting immediately after assassination attempt

Mr al-Halqi attended a weekly meeting with the Economic Committee shortly after the bombing.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survived a brazen assassination attempt on April 29 when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Damascus, the latest attack targeting a senior official in President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Images of the explosion released by Syrian state television

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was not injured, but several people were killed in the explosion. According to the UK-based Syrian Human Rights Working Group, the explosion killed at least five people, including two of al-Halqi's bodyguards and one of the convoy's drivers.

The information that Mr. al-Halqi was not injured was supported by state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV, which showed images of Mr. al-Halqi arriving at a weekly meeting of the Economic Committee shortly after the bombing. The images showed Prime Minister al-Halqi and officials sitting around a table in the room.

State news agencies quoted Mr al-Halqi as saying the assassination showed how armed groups were losing ground after the Syrian army gained ground across the country.

Syrian state television quoted Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi as saying that the targeting of al-Halqi, who is responsible for implementing political programs to end the Syrian crisis, showed that some elements in the opposition still "reject a political solution".

In early 2013, Mr. al-Halqi set up a committee to conduct dialogue with opposition groups. The talks were part of an effort to implement a peace plan that included a national reconciliation meeting that President Assad outlined in a speech in early April.

The opposition says it will accept nothing unless Mr Assad goes.

AP quoted an unnamed Syrian government official as saying that an explosive device was placed under a car parked near the area where Mr. al-Halqi's convoy passed and exploded.

The attack took place in the heavily fortified Mazzeh neighborhood, which includes the residence of the Swiss ambassador and a major air base. Security forces sealed off the area immediately after the explosion, allowing only pedestrians near the scene of the bombing.

These are not the first attacks targeting senior officials in the Syrian capital in the past year.

The bombing of the Prime Minister's convoy bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants fighting alongside rebels, raising concerns about the role of extremists in Syria's civil war.

Al-Halqi, a senior member of the ruling Baath Party, took office in 2012 after his predecessor, Riad Hijab, defected to Jordan. Al-Halqi was Syria's health minister before taking up the post of prime minister. He comes from the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian crisis./.

According to VOV - DT