KABUL, April 4, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - An earthquake that struck Afghanistan 
overnight killed 12 people, including eight members of the same family, a 
government official and the Afghan Red Crescent Society said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8:42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 
186 kilometres (115 miles) at the epicentre in northeastern Badakhshan 
province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

"As a result of this earthquake, unfortunately, 12 people were killed and 
four people were injured," deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat 
posted on his official X account.

He said five houses were completely destroyed and 33 partially damaged in 
Kabul, Panjshir, Logar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces, affecting 
a total of 40 families.

Shaking was felt in many parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, 
according to AFP journalists.

"In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died 
as a result of the earthquake," Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said 
earlier.

A child aged around two was the only survivor from the household and 
Afghanistan's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the 
tremor.

"The other four people have been killed in the west of Kabul," Afghan Red 
Crescent Society spokesman Abdul Qadeem Abrar told AFP.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu 
Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

A shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed 
more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan in August, making it the 
deadliest tremor in the country's recent history.