Earthquake in Afghanistan: At least 155 people have been killed and more than 200 others injured after a devastating earthquake hit remote parts of southeastern Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan on Wednesday.
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.
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Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Pakistan.
The magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck about 44km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border, at a depth of 51km (31 miles), the US Geological Survey said on Wednesday.
The death toll is likely to rise, media reports said.
The disaster comes as Afghanistan has been enduring a severe economic crisis since the Taliban took over August, as US-led international forces withdrew after two decades of occupation.