Powerful earthquake rocks South Asia, more than 160 dead

Islamabad

A POWERFUL 7.5 magnitude earthquake which rocked parts of South Asia killed more than 160 people on Monday, including 12 Afghan girls crushed in a stampede as they fled their collapsing school.

At least 1,000 more were injured and hundreds of homes destroyed as the quake shook a swathe of the subcontinent, sending thousands of frightened people rushing into the streets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It was centred near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 kilometres from Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.