TUNCELI, July 2: Eighteen people were killed and 27 injured when an earthquake hit remote villages in the eastern Turkish province of Agri on Friday, devastating the local stone and earth houses.

Soldiers worked with residents to rescue people trapped in the rubble and set up tents and mobile kitchens for those made homeless, Anatolian news agency said. Istanbul's Kandilli Observatory said the quake measured 5.1 on the Richter scale.

An official at the local governor's office said the village of Yigincal, with about 100 houses, suffered severe damage in the quake, which struck three villages in Dogubayazit district near the Iranian border at 1:30am (03:30am PST).

Head scarved women villagers wailed as bodies were pulled from the rubble in Yigincal, where all the 18 dead were found. A series of aftershocks shook the region. -Reuters