At least 255 people were killed in an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP) – At least 255 people were killed in the earthquake that hit the eastern province of Paktika, the state news agency of Afghanistan said.

The state-run Bakhtar news agency put the death toll on Wednesday and said rescuers had arrived by helicopter.

Information remained scarce about the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Paktika province, but it comes as the international community has largely left Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country last year amid a chaotic US military withdrawal from the longest war in its history.

This is likely to complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people.

This is an urgent news update. A previous AP story follows below.

Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP) – An earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 155 people, authorities said.

Information remained scarce about the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Paktika province, but it comes as the international community has largely left Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country last year amid a chaotic US military withdrawal from the longest war in its history.

This is likely to complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people.

The state-run Bakhtar news agency, citing the death toll, said rescuers had arrived by helicopter. The director general of the news agency, Abdul Wahed Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses had been destroyed in Paktika, and dozens of people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Footage from Paktika province near the Pakistani border showed the victims being flown by helicopter from the area. Pictures widely circulated online from the county showed destroyed stone houses, with residents clearing mud bricks and other rubble.

“A violent earthquake shook four districts of Paktika province, killing and wounding hundreds of our compatriots and destroying dozens of homes,” Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, wrote separately on Twitter. “We urge all relief agencies to immediately send teams to the area to prevent further disaster.”

The neighboring Pakistan Meteorological Department estimated the quake with a magnitude of 6.1. The quake was felt in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the eastern Punjab province.

The European seismological agency, EMSC, said 119 million people felt the quake tremor more than 500 km away in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

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Associated Press writers Rahim Faez and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and John Gambrel and Isabel Debre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

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