Twin earthquakes in western Afghanistan kill at least 22

Two earthquakes rattled Afghanistan's western Badghis province along the border with Turkmenistan on Monday afternoon, killing at least 22 people, a local official said.

There were fears the death toll could rise further as the first rescuers reached some of the remote villages struck by the tremors in what is one of Afghanistan's most impoverished and underdeveloped regions.

Chief of the province's culture and information department, said scores of homes were destroyed in the quakes.

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The US Geological Survey registered a magnitude 5.3 quake at 2 p.m. and a second, magnitude 4.9 at 4 p.m. local time. They struck 41 kilometers (25 miles) east and 50 kilometers (31 miles) southeast of Qala-e-Naw, the provincial capital.