SOME 800 AFGHANS KILLED IN EASTERN TEMBLOR

Late-night 6.0 quake destroys villages in remote, mountainous areas, residents report.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

A VICTIM in Afghanistan's Kunar province is carried Monday to a helicopter.

Desperate Afghans clawed through rubble in search of missing loved ones after a strong earthquake killed about 800 people and injured more than 2,500 in eastern Afghanistan, according to figures provided Monday by the Taliban government.

The magnitude 6 quake late Sunday hit towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar province, causing extensive damage.

One resident in Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said nearly the entire village was destroyed.

"Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble," said the villager, who did not give his name.

"We need help here," he pleaded. "We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble."

The quake hit just before midnight and was centered 17 miles east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 5 miles deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed.

Video showed rescuers taking injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.

The Taliban government’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said at a news conference Monday that the death toll had risen to at least 800 with more than 2,500 injured. He said most of the casualties were in Kunar.