At least 32 people were killed and 53 wounded when an explosion hit a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, a doctor told AFP.

"Thirty-two bodies and 53 wounded people have been brought to our hospital so far," the medic in the southern city's central hospital said.

The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, a Taleban official said.

"Our initial information shows it was a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the mosque," a local Taleban official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding an investigation had been launched.— AFP