GILGIT, Nov 21: An strong earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, struck Astore Valley, 120km south of Gilgit, on Wednesday night at 2.31am, killing 23 people, including 18 children.

The quake also damaged about 60 houses in Mushkin, Hurcho and Dashkin areas of Astore Valley, besides injuring over 100 people, police sources said.

According to local Met office, at least five jolts were felt in Gilgit and Diamer districts. The epicentre of the quake was located 45km southeast of Gilgit.

Astore Valley is situated at the back of Tatupani near Nanga Parbat peak and is prone to quakes.

The latest jolt came 19 days after an earthquake struck the villages in Chilas area killing 11 people.

Some of the deceased were identified as Noorbakhshia, son of Afiyat Khan, Jahan Begum, wife of Noorbakhshia, Sher Alam, son of Noorbakhshia and two daughters of Noorbakhshia, Abdul Bari, son of Wahab, Mariya, daughter of Abdul Bari, Shoaib, son of Wazeer, Sir Syed, son of Wazeer, Husun Bano, daughter of Wazeer, Sharif, son of Izzat Mir and Kunwal, daughter of Mir Baz Khan. The names of other victims could not be ascertained.

The victims belonged to Mushkin, Dashkin, and Tarishing and Hurcho areas of Astore Valley.

The sources feared that death toll could rise as due to communication problem details from all areas could not be gathered.

An Astore resident claimed that 26 people were killed in the quake, however, the figure could not be confirmed by the official sources.

The quake also damaged 10 houses in Diamer district but no report of human casualty was reported from the area.

Sources said many deaths occurred because relief could not be provided to the injured on time.

The quake also caused landslides along the Korakoram Highway (KKH) at Tatupani. This portion of the KKH was still blocked till the filing of this report.

Some landslides also caused KKH blockade between Gilgit and Hunza but the personnel of Frontier Works Organization cleared the highway for vehicular traffic.

According to some reports, the quake also killed hundreds of cattle-heads in Astore, disrupted water and power supply in the valley. The landslides caused by the quake also blocked Gilgit-Skardu and Gilgit-Ghizer roads for vehicular traffic, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Northern Areas Force Commander, Maj-Gen Nadeem Ahmed and officials of the Northern Areas administration rushed to the quake affected areas in Astore on Thursday morning where a rescue operation had been launched by the army troops with the help of helicopters.