TEHRAN, October 09 (MNA) – More than 2,400 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan, the Taliban said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude.

They were among the world's deadliest quakes this year after tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.

Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, said in a message to Reuters that the toll had risen to 2,445 dead, but he revised down the number of injured to "more than 2,000".

Earlier, he had said that 9,240 people had been injured.

Sayeeq also said 1,320 houses had been damaged or destroyed.

The death toll spiked from 500 reported earlier on Sunday by the Red Crescent.

Food, drinking water, medicine, clothes, and tents were urgently needed for rescue and relief, Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, said in a message to the media.

MP/PR