Blast at Homs mosque kills eight; extremist group claims responsibility

Homs mosque explosion

An explosion ripped through the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab district of Homs during Friday prayers, killing at least eight people and wounding 18, the health ministry said. State news agency SANA published pictures showing scorched walls, smashed windows and blood on the carpet. Officials say an explosive device was detonated inside the building and investigations are ongoing as authorities search for the perpetrators.

Jihadist group Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility, saying it carried out the attack with an unnamed partner using explosives planted at the site; the group’s opaque origins and rhetoric have led some observers to suspect links to Islamic State. Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strike as a “terrorist crime” aimed at undermining security, and the blast adds to rising sectarian tensions in areas with large Alawite populations amid a recent pattern of targeted attacks and allegations of reprisals across the country, including reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. as reported by BBC

This story has also been reported by: New York Times