Over 32 killed in deadly blast hits Shia mosque in Afghanistan’s Kandahar

At least 32 people have been killed and 45 others injured after an explosion ripped through a Shia mosque in the southern city of Kandahar in Afghanistan, according to public health officials in the province.

The blast took place on Friday afternoon at the Bibi Fatima Mosque, the largest mosque for Shia muslims in the city.

Interior Minister Spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said on Twitter: "We are saddened to hear that an explosion has taken place in a Shia Brotherhood mosque in the first district of Kandahar city, in which a number of our fellow citizens have been martyred and injured."

Taliban special forces have arrived in the area "to determine the nature of the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice," he added.

A witness told AFP news agency that he had heard three explosions, one near the main mosque, one in a southern area, and a third where the unions were washing.

Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that they were being monitored with patients, and that based on the number of ever-increasing intakes, they feared a high number of victims.

Photos posted by journalists on social media showed many people apparently dead or seriously injured on the bloody floor of the mosque.

The incident took place a week after dozens of people were killed and more than 100 others were injured when a mosque in the northern province of Kunduz was targeted in an ISIL-K alleged bombing raid.

The Taliban-led government has promised a swift response and blamed the perpetrators for the Kunduz attack.