Opposition strikes in heart of Syria; PM survives bid on life

Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus yesterday, as fighters struck in the heart of President Bashar Assad's capital.
Six people were killed in the blast, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
As prime minister, Wael Al-Halki,å wields little power but the attack highlighted the fighters' growing ability to target symbols of Assad's authority in a civil war.
Assad picked Halki in August to replace Riyadh Hijab, who defected and escaped to neighboring Jordan just weeks after a bombing killed four of the president's top security advisers.
The blast shook the Mezzeh district soon after 9 a.m., sending thick black smoke into the sky. The Observatory said one man accompanying Halki was killed as well as five passers-by.
State television showed firemen hosing down the charred and mangled remains of a car. Close by was a large white bus, its windows blown out and its seats gutted by fire. Glass and debris were scattered across several lanes of a main road.
TV broadcast footage of Halki chairing what it said was an economic committee.