Fresh earthquake hits Afghanistan, toll crosses 1,400

The epicentre of the tremor was close to where a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit late Sunday

- AFP [e-mail] JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN

A fresh 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit the east of Afghanistan on Tuesday, jolting a region still struggling with the aftermath of a powerful quake at the weekend that killed 1,400 people.

The epicentre of the tremor was close to where a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit late Sunday night, devastating remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan.

The "quake was felt in the same areas which were affected in Kunar (province) in the first earthquake," Ehsanullah Ehsan, the disaster management spokesman in the hard-hit province, told AFP.