Explosion in mosque in Homs, Syria, kills at least six | News from the war in Syria

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Syrian state media says security forces have imposed a cordon around the area and are investigating.

At least six “people” were killed and more than 20 injured when an explosion hit a mosque in Syria’s Homs province.

The attack targeted the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs shortly after Friday prayers, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed people fleeing the mosque in panic, placing some victims on stretchers and carrying others, wrapped in coats, to ambulances.

The explosion appears to have taken place in the corner of the mosque’s main prayer hall, leaving a small crater in the wall and burning the surrounding area, with prayer rugs torn and strewn with debris, books and fragments scattered on the floor.

Local officials told the Reuters news agency that the explosion “could have been” caused by “a suicide bomber or explosives placed there.”

State media said security forces had imposed a cordon around the area and were investigating.

Ayman Oghanna, Al Jazeera correspondent in Aleppo, noted that Homs is home to a diverse population of Alawites, Christians and Sunni Muslims. He said the attack targeted an Alawite mosque, warning it could “stove sectarian tensions” across the country.

He said no group had claimed responsibility for the strike, but pointed to a recent surge in IS activity in Syria. He added that government forces carried out an operation near Aleppo, arresting three suspected ISIL members.

Last week, the United States bombed ISIL positions in Syria in retaliation for the deaths of two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter. Damascus also joined a global anti-IS alliance in November, vowing to crush the group’s remaining elements.

Friday’s attack highlights the fragility of the country’s security situation, as the new authorities in Damascus struggle to assert their control.