In the Syrian city Homs There was an explosion in an Alawite mosque with dead and injured people. As the state news agency Sana reported, at least five people were killed. 21 others were injured, the agency quoted a Syrian Health Ministry official as saying. The number is provisional and could continue to rise. So far there is no information about the background to the incident.

The city administration in Homs said an explosive device was detonated in the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque during busy Friday prayers. Emergency services cordoned off the area.

Since the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad last year will be Syria shaken by sectarian violence. Assad himself is an Alawite. The incumbent government under self-proclaimed President Ahmed al-Sharaa is led by members of the Sunni majority.

At the beginning of the month we were in central Syria two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter killed in an attack been. The authorities blamed a suspected member of the Sunni extremist militia Islamic State (IS). The The United States then attacked more than 70 IS targets in Syria.