Wednesday's earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 920 people and injured 600 more in remote mountain villages in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika and Khost provinces.Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Sharafuddin Muslim, the deputy state minister for disaster management, confirmed the revised death toll and said Barmal district of Paktika was the most affected region.However, officials said the toll is expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages.Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical supplies and food, said another official.Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since 2002.
It struck about 44 km from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the US Geological Survey (USGC) said.Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika.Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) offered his condolences in a statement.The United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Afghanistan had asked humanitarian agencies to help with rescue efforts, and teams were being despatched to the quake-hit area.The post Death toll climbs to over 900 following major earthquake in Afghanistan first appeared on Ariana News.