Earthquake wreaks havoc in Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 280 people and left scores injured in Afghanistan.

Pictures show landslides and ruined homes in eastern Paktika province, where rescuers are scrambling to treat the injured.

In remote areas, helicopters have been ferrying victims to hospitals.

The local Bakhtar news agency said the death toll was likely to rise, adding more than 600 people were injured.

Taliban officials have called for aid agencies to rush to the affected areas in the nation’s east.

A local doctor told newsmen that most of the casualties so far were in the Gayan and Barmal districts in Paktika.

Local media site Etilaat-E Roz reported a whole village in Gayan had been destroyed.

According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, tremors were felt across more than 500km of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The centre said that witnesses had reported feeling the quake in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

Reports had it that there have been no immediate reports of casualties, and the earthquake caused little damage in Pakistan.