Overview
- Local officials said an explosive device detonated inside the Imam-Ali-bin-Abi-Talib mosque in Homs during Friday prayers.
- State media, citing a Health Ministry official, reported at least five people dead and 21 injured, noting the figures are preliminary.
- Emergency responders cordoned off the area around the mosque and secured the site following the blast.
- Investigators have not identified suspects or a motive, and independent verification of the details remains limited.
- The attack comes in a period of heightened sectarian tension in Syria, with recent militant activity including strikes on Islamic State targets after an earlier attack that killed two US soldiers and a civilian translator.