Blast Kills 2 outside mosque in Syria’s Latakia City

Islamic Extremism

At least two people were killed and many more wounded when an explosion rocked Syria’s coastal city of Latakia on Thursday, local media said.

Syrian state TV is reporting that an explosion has struck as people were leaving the Khulafa Rashideen mosque following afternoon prayers.

The blast was carried out by a booby-trapped motorcycle that went off at the entrance of the al-Datur neighborhood in Latakia, said Sham FM radio and the national Syrian TV.

The TV aired footage of the blast near the mosque, showing ambulances putting down a fire, and soldiers carrying men in camouflages onto a military pickup truck.

The exact target of the blast wasn’t immediately known, but in the video most of the victims were soldiers.

The explosion came a week after a series of coordinated bombings struck the coastal city of Tartus and the town of Jableh on the Syrian coast, killing some 160 people.

The coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus have been a government stronghold since the country’s conflict began in 2011.

Story by CRI English and the Associated Press