A strong earthquake has killed at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan, authorities have said, just months after another deadly tremor that left the country reeling.
The 6.3-magnitude quake struck overnight at a depth of 28km with the epicentre near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the US Geological Survey.
"Based on the information we have so far, 534 people have been injured and more than 20 fatalities have been taken to hospitals in Samangan and Balkh provinces," health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told journalists.
Residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan's largest northern cities, scrambled into the streets due to fears their homes would collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.
The city's famed Blue Mosque, a 15th-century landmark known for its vibrant tiles, was also damaged, an AFP journalist witnessed.
Pieces of the structure, particularly from one of its minarets, broke off and lay scattered across the mosque's grounds, one of the country's few remaining tourist spots.
Correspondents in the capital Kabul, around 420km to the south, also said they felt shaking.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities for hours or even days from reaching far-flung villages to assess the extent of the damage.
Watch: Afghans dig through rubble after deadly earthquake
The defence ministry said it had cleared and reopened the main road between Mazar-i-Sharif and the town of Kholm, and that it had rescued people who had been stranded there overnight.
"Numerous homes have been destroyed, and significant material losses have been incurred," Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban authorities, wrote on X, without specifying a number.
It is the latest natural disaster for the Taliban government, which has faced three major deadly earthquakes since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, even as the foreign aid that formed the backbone of the country's economy has dramatically dropped.
In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country's east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.
Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.
The United Nations and aid agencies have warned hunger is rising among the Afghan population.
The isolated country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis compounded by drought, economic restrictions on the banking sector, and the pushback of millions of Afghan citizens from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
Many homes in the predominantly rural country - devastated by decades of war - are shoddily built.
It often takes hours or days to travel by steep roads and paths to remote villages, which are often cut off from help during disasters or poor weather.
