Seven Shi'ite worshippers were killed and 15 wounded in an explosion that occurred during Friday prayers on October 13 in a Shi'ite mosque in Pol-e-Khomri, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Baghlan Province, according to the Taliban-led government's police command in the province.
The police command said in a statement sent to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that a suicide bomber carried out the attack at the Imam Zaman Mosque.
A source in Pol-e-Khomri Hospital, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the number of dead was much higher, telling Radio Azadi that about 30 bodies were brought to the hospital from the scene of the incident.
A number of other media outlets have published stories putting the number of injured at nearly 50.
Radio Azadi quoted an eyewitness as saying casualties were very high and that it was a suicide attack.
The police commander of the Taliban government for the province said that further investigations are under way regarding the incident.
WATCH: Footage of the aftermath of the bombing obtained by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. (Warning: Some viewers may find the content of this video disturbing.)
Taliban officials confirmed earlier that a blast occurred.
"I condemn it strongly, but currently I don't have all the information," deputy government spokesman Bilal Karimi told the AFP news agency.
Mawlawi Hashimi, a Taliban official in Baghlan Province, told Reuters that the dead and injured were being taken to the hospital. Hashimi said authorities were probing what type of blast it was.
No group has claimed responsibility. In the past, Islamic State, which considers Shi'ites heretics, has taken responsibility for similar attacks on Shi’ites in various provinces of Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban retook control of the government in Kabul in August 2021, Islamic State has staged attacks on diplomatic missions and ministry buildings in the capital and assassinated two provincial governors.
The Taliban and Islamic State share an austere Sunni ideology. However, Kabul's new rulers have pledged to protect ethnic and religious minorities.
According to a UN Security Council report in May, Islamic State seeks to "provoke sectarian conflict and destabilize the region" and since 2022 has conducted more than 190 suicide bombings, leaving some 1,300 injured or dead.
The presence of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan has also stoked tensions with Pakistan, which claims they are crossing the border to strike targets on its soil.