Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
SANA cited Syrian Health Ministry official Najib al-Naasan as saying 21 others were wounded and that the figures were a preliminary toll, indicating they could rise.
Homs city's press office said an explosive device had detonated inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque and that security forces had cordoned off the area.
Local official Issam Naameh told Reuters the blast took place during Friday noon prayers, typically the busiest time for mosques.
Syrian state media SANA published footage of rescuers and security forces examining debris splayed across the mosque's green carpet. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Syria as violence stage against Alawite minority
Syria has been rocked by several episodes of sectarian violence since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite, was ousted by a rebel offensive last year and replaced by a government led by members of the Sunni Muslim majority.
Earlier this month, two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria by an attacker described by the authorities as a suspected member of the Islamic State, a violent Sunni Muslim group.
In November, two people were killed. The victims were a man and his wife from a Bedouin tribe who were killed in their home south of Homs, and Bedouin began attacking members of the Alawite minority in turn.
The Syrian government responded with a curfew. However, this doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of armed men taking the law into their own hands.
The events in Homs are very similar to clashes over the summer that targeted Druze in Sweida and also those in March that were aimed at Alawites in Latakia. In each instance, the minority group was accused of a crime, and then large numbers of mostly Sunni Arab men mobilized to attack.
During that time, the Alawite council called on the UN and the international community to do more to protect them as a minority group. “Unarmed civilians were terrorized by direct shootings, burning of homes and properties, destruction of shops, and cars set ablaze,” the Alawite Council said.