Bombs ripped through a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in Kandahar city of Afghanistan, killing at least 32 people and injuring over 53. No one has taken responsibility for the attack so far.
"Thirty-two bodies and 53 injured individuals have been brought to our hospital so far," a doctor at the city's central Mirwais hospital said.
The bombing comes just a week after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Shiite worshippers at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.
A toll of more than 30 was confirmed by other medical sources and a provincial official, and at least 15 ambulances were racing to and from the site of the explosion.
A blood donation plea was posted on the mosque's Facebook page.
Three explosions were heard, according to an eyewitness, one near the mosque's front door, another in a southern region and a third where worshipers wash before their prayers.
Another witness claimed that three bombs shook the mosque in the town's centre during Friday prayers, which are the busiest of the week.
"We are horrified to learn that an explosion occurred at a Shiite brotherhood mosque in Kandahar city's first district, in which a number of our compatriots were slain and wounded,"
said Qari Sayed Khosti, a spokesman for the Taliban movement, which rules Afghanistan.
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Special forces from the Taliban arrived to guard the area, and locals were urged to donate blood to save the wounded.
Last Friday, a suicide bomber from the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K) attacked a Shiite mosque in Kunduz, killing dozens of worshippers.
The group, which is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, a Sunni Islamist movement, claimed responsibility for the attacks on Shiite worshippers, whom it considers heretics.
The Taliban, who overthrew the US-backed government in mid-August and took control of Afghanistan, has a history of abusing Shiites.
The new Taliban-led administration, on the other hand, has promised to stabilise the country and in the light of the Kunduz attack, has pledged to safeguard the Shiite minority that now
lives under its control.
Shiites make up about 10% of Afghanistan's population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group in Afghanistan that has been oppressed for decades.