Islamabad, 2 September 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The death toll from the devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar has surpassed 1,400, officials said on Tuesday.

According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government's chief spokesman, 1,411 people have died and 3,124 others have been injured since a powerful 6.0-magnitude quake and several aftershocks rattled the east of the country late on Sunday.

"Rescue operations are still under way today across all affected areas," said another Taliban spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, in a statement.

"Dozens of commando units have been deployed to areas where aircraft were unable to land, to rescue the injured from under the rubble and move them to safe locations," he said.

It comes after the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) issued an updated death toll of 1,124, adding that over 8,000 homes have been destroyed in Kunar, the region most affected by the quakes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 12,000 people have been directly affected by the earthquake.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 19:17 GMT on Sunday, just before midnight local time, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

After decades of war, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries, dealing with back-to-back humanitarian crises. The country is struggling with the forced deportation of millions of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran, while its ability to respond to disasters has been severely weakened.

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