MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. About 2,500 people were killed and tens of thousands suffered injuries in an earthquake that rocked Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the Afghan embassy in Russia told TASS.

"The death toll stands at 2,500 but it may grow because there is widespread destruction and many people remain under the rubble," the spokesperson said, adding: "As many as 1,500 residential buildings were destroyed and tens of thousands of people suffered injuries."

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center reported on October 7 that a 6.2 magnitude earthquake had hit Afghanistan. The epicenter was at a depth of ten kilometers, 42 kilometers northwest of the city of Herat, the administrative center of the province of the same name, which has a population of 272,000.