HOMS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
Mourners pray in Homs at the Saturday, Dec. 27 funeral of several people who were killed in Friday’s explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect, Syrian state news agency SANA said. REUTERS
A man holds an imaginary depiction of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered by Syria’s Alawite community, during the funeral. AP
Eight people were killed and 18 were wounded in the attack. AHMAD FALLAHA/EPA/Shutterstock
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad”) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
Mourners gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood. AHMAD FALLAHA/EPA/Shutterstock
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the fatal attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. REUTERS
Saraya Ansar al-Sunna indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates. APHe and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
