Syria: Several feared dead after bombing outside mosque in government-controlled Latakia city

A motorcycle bomb has been detonated outside a mosque on Syria’s government-controlled coastline, killing several people.

Television footage showed bodies being loaded into a lorry outside the al-Khulafa Rashideen mosque in Latakia city as firefighters fought a large blaze.

The number of casualties was initially unknown as rescue operations continued.

Reports on Syrian state television said the blast struck while people were leaving the mosque following afternoon prayers.

The explosion came days after a series of co-ordinated bombings struck the coastal city of Tartous and the town of Jableh on the Syrian coast, killing around 160 people.

Isis said it had carried out the simultaneous attacks but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's bombing.

The coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous have been a government stronghold since the country's civil war began in 2011.

Civilians have reportedly been killed in shelling on regime-controlled areas of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor in recent days, as well as in air strikes and bombings of rebel and Isis-held areas of Syria.