News - Middle East: A terrorist attack struck the Imam Ali Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of Homs on Friday, killing and wounding worshippers during weekly prayers, according to Syrian media and regional networks.

Syria’s official news agency SANA said preliminary information pointed to at least five people killed and 21 others injured in the blast.

Al-Mayadeen, citing local sources, said the attacker detonated explosives inside the mosque while Friday prayers were underway.

Syrian sources described the incident as a terrorist attack and said authorities were investigating the circumstances as emergency teams evacuated the wounded and secured the area.

Citing a security source, Sana reported that based on initial investigations, the explosion was caused by explosive devices planted inside the mosque. Initial reports had linked the explosion to a suicide bomber. 

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Homs, which witnessed some of the worst sectarian violence in the past year, has remained deeply fragile, particularly for members of the Alawite community.

A local resident, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said people “heard a loud explosion, followed by chaos and panic in the neighbourhood.”

He added: “No one dares to leave their house, and we are hearing ambulance sirens.”

Images released by SANA showed damage inside the mosque, including a hole blown through a wall, while carpets and religious books lay scattered on the floor.

Although Homs is predominantly Sunni Muslim, it also contains several largely Alawite districts. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024, residents and the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have reported a rise in kidnappings and killings that have disproportionately affected members of the Alawite minority.

Concerns over violence against Alawites intensified after mass killings in Syria’s coastal regions in March by militants of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied groups.

A national commission of inquiry later reported that at least 1,426 Alawites were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at more than 1,700.

Source: Press TV