An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday. The spokesperson for Kabul's governor said at least eight people are dead.
The region is highly seismically active, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicenter in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the United States Geological Survey.
With the epicenter at a depth of over 180 kilometers, the quake was felt across a wide swathe of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was felt in the areas of Islamabad, Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
Afghanistan's Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said Kabul and provincial health authorities had been put on alert.
