Jane Onyanga-Omara

USA TODAY

At least 32 people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul, authorities said.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said more than 50 people, many of them children, were wounded. The Interior Ministry said the attack happened in the Baqir-ul Ulom mosque in western Kabul.

Officials said the attacker walked into the mosque before detonating his suicide vest among worshipers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims has in the past been rare in majority Sunni Afghanistan.

Gen. John W. Nicholson, of NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, condemned the "senseless murder."

“On behalf of the men and women of Resolute Support, we offer our condolences to the families of the innocent men, women and children killed and wounded in today's attack. We will continue to stand with our Afghan partners and do everything possible to secure a peaceful, stable Afghanistan," he said in a statement.

In July, more than 80 people were killed in an attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority group in Kabul. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.

Last month, at least 14 people were killed when gunmen attacked a shrine in Kabul as Shiite Muslims gathered to mark the religious festival of Ashura. No group immediately claimed responsibility.