BEIRUT: A bomb went off in front of a mosque and killed 14 people in Homs, Syrian state television said on Friday, with forces loyal to President Bashar Assad looking close to wresting the symbolic central city back from rebels.

“Fourteen people were killed and dozens wounded in a terrorist bomb in front of the Bilal Al-Habshi mosque ... as people left the mosque,” state television said. The mosque is in a government-controlled part of Homs.

Syrian authorities generally refer to attacks by rebels as “terrorist”, but there was no way to verify who was responsible for the blast. The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV station, which has reporters in Syria, said it was a car bomb.

Hundreds of rebel fighters and civilians remain trapped in the ancient quarter of Homs, surrounded by government forces and pro-Assad militia. A deal agreed at peace talks in Geneva this year allowed some civilians to leave. But further negotiations broke down following heavy fighting this week.

A city with a mixed Sunni, Alawite and Christian population, Homs was the scene of early protests against Assad in 2011 that, after he tried to crush them by force, spiralled into an armed insurgency. The state news agency quoted a military source on Friday as saying the army had “eliminated” rebels in central Homs and taken control of buildings in Bab Hood and Wadi Al-Sayeh neighborhoods, both contested districts.