Iraq PM Assassination Attempt

Iraq's prime minister has said an explosion inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone earlier this week was an assassination attempt. Nouri al-Maliki said that initial intelligence on the bomb that exploded opposite the parliament buildings on Monday suggested he was the target. However, he denied that the explosion signaled a deterioration in security in the area, which is meant to be one of the most secure in Iraq. "The preliminary intelligence information says that the car was due to enter parliament and stay there and not to explode. It was supposed to explode on the day I entered parliament," he told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday. Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad.