Homes have been destroyed in the province of Paktika and dozens of people are believed to be trapped under the rubble
At least a thousand people have been killed and more than 1,500 injured after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan, officials have said.
The quake struck about 27 miles (44km) from the city of Khost, close to the country’s border with Pakistan, and was at a depth of 31.6 miles (51km), according to the US Geological Survey.
The numbers of those killed and injured were reported by the country’s state-run Bakhtar News Agency.
The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details,” interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi said.
The majority of the fatalities were in the province of Paktika. Footage from the area, near the Pakistan border, showed victims being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the area.
Bakhtar News Agency posted images of destroyed stone houses and the injured being treated in hospital.
Its director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 homes were destroyed in the province of Paktika and dozens of people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.
A severe earthquake shook four districts of Paktika province, killing and injuring hundreds of our countrymen and destroying dozens of houses,” tweeted Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban government.
“We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.”
