Kabul: The death toll from the devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar has surpassed 1,400, officials said on Tuesday.

According to Ghana News Agency, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government's chief spokesman, reported that 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,' stated another Taliban spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat. He added that dozens of commando units have been deployed to inaccessible areas to rescue the injured from under the rubble and relocate them to safe locations.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) updated the death toll to 1,124 and reported 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.