Syeikh al-Bouti killed in Damascus blast

Sheikh Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti was killed at the age of 84 in a suicide bombing that targeted a mosque in Damascus. (AFP)

A senior pro-government Sunni cleric is among dozens of people killed in a suicide attack in the Syrian capital after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque.

Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, a longtime supporter of President Bashar al-Assad and Imam of Damascus' historic Ummayyad Mosque, was killed in the explosion in the Iman Mosque in the central Mezzeh district.

"The number of those martyred in the terrorist suicide attack in the Iman Mosque rises to 42 martyrs with 84 injured," a bulletin on state television said, citing the country's health ministry.