KABUL (Reuters). A massive explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, during Friday prayers. At least 15 people were killed and 31 others were injured. Officials expect the death toll to climb.

Qari Saeed Khosti (Taliban interior ministry spokesperson) said the authorities were gathering information about the explosion. This occurred just days after an Islamic State suicide bomber attack on Kunduz’s Shi’ite mosque claimed by ISIS that left many dead.

Journalists on social media posted photos and footage from their mobile phones showing many victims on the floor of Imam Bargah mosque’s bloody basement.

Officials said that 31 injured, 15 deceased and three others were being treated at Mirwais Hospital in the city. But the hospital is expecting to see more victims as ambulances keep bringing them in.

Special forces from the Taliban arrived at the scene to protect it. Residents were asked to help the injured by donating blood.

No immediate claims of liability were made.

This blast occurred so quickly after the Kunduz attacks and highlighted the increasing uncertainty in Afghanistan’s security as the Taliban struggle with an escalating humanitarian and economic crisis, which threatens to kill millions of people.

After the defeat of the Taliban in Kabul by the Western-backed government, in August, the local ISIS affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan (after an old name for Afghanistan’s region), has intensified its attacks.

Although Taliban officials tried to downplay the Islamic State threat, repeated attacks on the Taliban have undermined its claims of bringing peace to Afghanistan after 40 years of conflict.

Tensions between various ethnic and sectarian groups may be heightened by the targeting of the Shi’ite minority in this predominantly Sunni nation.