Prime Minister’s Car Damaged By Bomb

A remote-controlled bomb planted in an underground drainpipe damaged Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo I. Lazarenko’s armored car Tuesday in what officials called an assassination attempt.

Lazarenko and two bodyguards suffered slight injuries in the blast, which occurred as the prime minister was heading to the coal-mining Donetsk region to hear a report by government investigators into embezzlement of state funds meant for miners’ wages. The scandal has set off a wave of strikes.

Vasyl Durdinets, Lazarenko’s first deputy, said the attack was intended to thwart the investigation.

After a delay caused by the bombing - the first attempt on the life of a high-ranking official in post-Soviet Ukraine - Lazarenko flew to Donetsk to hear the report by investigators.