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The death toll rises after the mosque attack in Syria

Eight people are dead and at least 18 injured after a bomb exploded in a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers, AP reports. The death toll is expected to rise further.

The Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque is located in the Alawite neighborhoods with a Shiite majority. A relatively unknown group that calls itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna has claimed responsibility for the attack in its channel on Telegram. The group also claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in June against a Greek Orthodox church on the outskirts of Damascus.

The Syrian government then placed the blame on IS, and published information that IS was also planning an attack on a Shiite mosque. However, IS never claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Alawite Central Council instead blames the government for what it calls a "systematic campaign of murder and sedition" against Alawites, according to Reuters.

Five dead in attack on mosque in Syria

Five people have been killed in an explosion against a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, Reuters reports. Another twenty have been injured.

According to the state-run Syrian news agency Sana, something is said to have detonated in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque. It is located in the Alawite neighborhoods of Homs.