Strong Earthquake In Afghanistan; At Least 130 Killed

Kabul: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 130 people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday. At least 250 people were injured and checks were being conducted to see if the casualty toll might rise.

The quake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border, at a depth of 51 km, the US Geological Survey said, according to a Reuters report.

Shaking was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the EMSC said on Twitter. Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble.

The head of the Taliban administration’s natural disaster ministry, Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, said the majority of deaths were in the province of Paktika, where 100 people were killed and 250 injured. Another 25 people were killed in Khost and five in Nangarhar province, he said, adding that investigations were being conducted to determine if there were more casualties, the report added.