At least eight killed in explosion at mosque in Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least eight people were killed, and 18 were injured on Friday after an explosion struck a mosque in Syria’s Homs province, state media reported.

“Eight people were killed, and 18 were injured as a result of the explosion, in a preliminary toll,” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited Najeeb al-Naasan, emergency director at the Syrian health ministry, as saying.

The blast occurred at the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood in southeastern Homs, according to SANA.

A security source told the outlet that initial investigations indicate the explosion was caused by explosive devices planted inside the mosque. Internal Security units were deployed to the site and imposed a security cordon, while relevant authorities began investigating and collecting evidence.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility, and authorities said investigations were ongoing.

The Syrian foreign ministry, in a statement, strongly condemned “the terrorist crime by a bombing that targeted one of the mosques in the city of Homs during Friday prayers,” and extended condolences to the family of the victims.

Although the Islamic State (ISIS) was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, the group continues to exploit instability following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad’s regime and has previously targeted mosques in both Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian interior ministry said on Wednesday that security forces arrested a senior ISIS official in the southern province of Rif Dimashq in a joint operation with the US-led global coalition against the group.

Syria officially joined the multinational coalition in November following a landmark meeting between US President Donald Trump and Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House - the first such encounter with a Syrian president in more than eight decades.

Since joining the coalition, Damascus has carried out several joint anti-ISIS operations with the alliance. Three Americans were killed in Homs in mid-December during a joint anti-ISIS operation involving US and Syrian forces. Washington launched a large-scale aerial campaign days later, targeting ISIS positions across Syria.