An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42pm on Friday, or 12.12am Hong Kong time, at a depth of 186 kilometres at the epicentre in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey.

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to 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 in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

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

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



Edited by Thomas McAlinden