A strong earthquake hit large parts of northern Iraq and Iran today where at least 65 people have been killed.
At least 61 people were killed in Iran after the quake, according to officials. A further 300 people have been injured.
At least four people were killed in Iraq's Kurdistan region, according to the Kurdish Health Minister.
At least 50 others have been wounded, according to Iraqi health and local officials.
The quake, whose epicentre was in Penjwin, in Sulaimaniyah province, is in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region very close to the Iranian border, according to an Iraqi meteorology official.
The US Geological Survey said the quake measured a magnitude of 7.3, while an Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5 according to preliminary information.
Many residents in the Iraqi capital Baghdad rushed out of houses and tall buildings in panic.
"I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air," said Majida Ameer, who ran out of her building in the capital's Salihiya district with her three children.
"I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming 'earthquake'."
There were similar scenes in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and across other cities in northern Iraq, close to the quake's epicentre.
Iraq's meteorology centre advised people to stay away from buildings and not to use elevators, in case of aftershocks.
The quake was even felt in the Iranian capital Tehran, with some villages hit by power cuts, Iranian state TV reported.
Residents of Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir also reported feeling a strong tremor, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in the city.
Israeli media said the quake was felt in many parts of Israel too.
