Afghan quake kills 1,000; toll expected to rise

KABUL－A powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border early on Wednesday, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 others, authorities said.

Emergency officials warned the death toll will likely rise.

Afghan emergency official Sharafuddin Muslim provided the death toll at a news conference. Earlier, the director-general of state-run Bakhtar news agency, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on social media that 90 houses had been destroyed in the province of Paktika and dozens of people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing on Wednesday that so far, there were no reports of casualties among Chinese citizens.

Wang said that China expressed its condolences over the deaths in the earthquake and extended its sympathy to the injured and the bereaved families, and that China is willing to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan according to the country's requirements.