New Delhi: At least 610 people were killed and nearly 1,300 others injured after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late Sunday, officials of the Taliban government said.
The quake, measuring 6 on the Richter scale, hit Kunar province near Jalalabad in neighbouring Nangarhar province at 11:47 pm. Its epicentre was at a shallow depth of just 8 km, making the tremors more destructive.
Several villages were flattened and widespread damage was reported. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Kani confirmed the death toll, saying 610 people were killed and 1,300 injured in Kunar alone.
He added that a dozen people lost their lives and hundreds were injured in Nangarhar.
