Dozens killed in 3rd Afghan quake

? An earthquake Friday morning shook northern Afghanistan, leaving a village in ruins and killing more than 30 people, aid officials said. At least 100 others were injured.

The quake struck at 8:30 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.8, according to the U.S.-based National Earthquake Information Center. It was centered near the site of a devastating March 25 quake that killed as many as 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Most of the casualties Friday were in the village of Doabi, 90 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, said Hugues Belloc, an official with the French aid group ACTED.

“Many buildings collapsed and a lot of people were buried under the rubble,” Belloc said by satellite phone from nearby Pul-i-Khumri.

A U.N. official, Fahrana Faruqi, said the quake also hit other villages, including Nahrin, which was heavily damaged in the March 25 quake and where many still live in tents. She put the overall death toll at 37 or more and said 120 people had been injured.

Faruqi said U.N. helicopters had flown to Doabi to gauge the extent of the damage and determine what the victims needed.

“It’s basically all flat. Not a single house is standing there,” Faruqi said by satellite phone from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Friday’s quake was the third to strike northern Afghanistan in less than two months. A March 3 quake with a 7.2 magnitude was the strongest in the Hindu Kush mountain region since 1983.

Ahmad Shouab, aide to a local commander in Pul-i-Khumri, said several buildings collapsed in Friday’s quake.

One aid worker said rocks let loose from the mountains posed more of a threat than collapsing buildings.