Explosion at Alawite mosque in Homs during Friday prayers kills eight

Eight people were killed and 18 were wounded in an apparent bombing attack against the Alawite minority's Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in Homs during Friday prayers, according to preliminary reports.

Ambulances transported casualties while security forces sealed off the area.

Social media posts attributed the attack to the jihadist extremist Ansar al-Sunna faction, although no official statement confirmed this. The group has previously threatened to target Alawite-majority areas in Homs, Tartus and Latakia.

The Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood is home to one of Homs' largest Alawite communities. The area has seen a series of individual killings recently, including a schoolteacher who died when a bomb was thrown into her home.

Local sources told Euronews that security forces cordoned off the site, evacuated victims and launched an investigation, partially closing roads to the explosion location.

Homs experienced widespread tension in late November following the killing of a married couple from a prominent Bedouin tribe that inflamed divisions in Syria's third-largest and most diverse city.

The couple's bodies were discovered at their home in southern Homs. The wife's body showed burn marks, and offensive slogans were found at the scene, according to Syrian news agency SANA.

Authorities responded by deploying security forces, imposing a curfew and issuing statements urging restraint.

A wave of retaliatory attacks followed, prompting authorities to impose a curfew on Sunday night that extended until Monday evening before violence subsided, the agency reported.

The bombing on Friday occurred a day after Syrian forces implemented heightened security measures for Christmas celebrations.

Security operations coordinated with the international coalition have targeted the so-called Islamic State jihadist group cells across several Syrian regions, particularly in the Damascus countryside.