Kabul: A powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least 610 people and left 1,300 injured, the Taliban government confirmed on Monday.
The 6.0-magnitude tremor struck late Sunday in Kunar province, near Jalalabad in neighbouring Nangarhar, devastating several villages and causing widespread destruction.
The quake, recorded at 11:47 p.m. at a shallow depth of just 8 kilometres, inflicted severe damage as shallower quakes typically do.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani told the Associated Press that 610 people were killed and 1,300 injured in Kunar alone, with many homes reduced to rubble. In Nangarhar, at least a dozen people lost their lives and hundreds more were wounded, he added.
