(VOVWORLD) - More than 2,000 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan and more than 9,000 injured, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.
 Afghan earthquakes kill 2,053, Taliban say, as death toll spikes |
The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
They were among the world's deadliest quakes in a year when tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.
Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, said 2,053 people were killed, 9,240 injured and 1,320 houses damaged or destroyed. The death toll spiked from 500 reported earlier on Sunday by the Red Crescent.
Ten rescue teams were in the area, which borders Iran, Sayeeq told a press conference.
More than 200 dead had been brought to various hospitals, said a Herat health department official who identified himself as Dr Danish, adding most of them were women and children.