ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Syrian security forces on Tuesday arrested suspected Islamic State (ISIS) commander Khalid Raed Biruni, who was allegedly behind a series of attacks, including the bombing of a mosque in Homs, which killed eight and injured 18 others in December.

Biruni, also known as “Abu Hassan Doushka [DShK]” was “general military commander for the organization [ISIS] in the ‘Homs Province,’” the interior ministry said in a statement.

The ministry accused him of planning and executing “several terrorist acts” in Homs, including “carrying out sectarian attacks and being responsible for the bombing that targeted the Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque.”

In December, an explosion struck the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of the Alawite-majority Homs, killing at least 8 people and wounding 18 others during the Friday prayer.

Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, a Sunni Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack through a statement on Telegram.

The group, which has been described as an ISIS front by the UN, reportedly emerged frrom members of Turkey-backed Syrian militias, and is described as anti-Shiite, anti-Alawite, anti-Druze, and anti-Christian. It was formed following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, and previously claimed responsibility for an attack on a church in Damascus in June.

ISIS took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014, announcing its self-proclaimed caliphate with the city of Mosul as its capital. The group was territorially defeated with assistance from the US-led coalition forces in Iraq by 2017 and in Syria by 2019.

Despite the territorial defeat, ISIS still poses a security threat across Syria, with the extremist group mostly resorting to hit-and-run attacks.