(News 1st); At least 32 people have been killed and 45 people wounded after an explosion went off inside a Shia mosque in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar today (15).

The explosion took place in the Bibi Fatima mosque, the largest mosque for Shia worshippers in the city.

Interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said, “We are saddened to learn that an explosion took place in a mosque of the Shia brotherhood in the first district of Kandahar city in which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded.”

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

An eyewitness told the AFP news agency he heard three blasts, one at the main door of the mosque, another at a southern area, and a third where worshippers wash themselves.

Hospital sources stated that they were inundated with patients, and that based on the number of increasing intakes, they feared a high casualty toll.

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