A strong earthquake struck the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan today, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of Kabul, and tremors were felt across Pakistan and India.
Authorities in Faizabad, the capital of Afghanistan's Badakhshan province and the town nearest the epicentre, were trying to contact outlying districts to assess damage and casualties, the deputy governor said.
The region is inaccessible at the best of times, but after heavy snow and rainfall many mountain roads were cut by landslides and bridges were swept away by torrents.
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Thousands of people were killed by two earthquakes in Badakhshan province in the late 1990s.