A massacre took place in the Karm Allouz neighborhood in Homs in which 15 Syrians were killed, including a woman and her four children, one day before a Security Council session on Syria. According to the Syrian government the perpetrators were terrorist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda. This incident was cited by the government in the aftermath of the 25 May Houla massacre to support its contention that there was a pattern of these terrorist attacks escalating before Security Council sessions on Syria, or in that case, coinciding with UN special envoy Kofi Annan's announced visit to the country.