More than 3,000 people have been confirmed dead in the strong earthquake that rattled northern Pakistan and India.

According to police in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, over 1,700 people had been killed in the area by the Saturday's quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale.

The death toll could be in several thousands in Kashmir alone, military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told reporters, adding that the death toll might rise sharply.

The massive earthquake, which struck at 0350 GMT and centered about 100 km northeast of Pakistani capital Islamabad, triggered landslides and flattened villages of mud-brick homes near the border between Pakistan and India on Saturday morning.

In Pakistan, 250 girls were killed when their school collapsed, and 200 soldiers on duty in Kashmir.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, nearly 210 people including 21 Indian solider were killed and over 600 others injured.

More than 500 houses collapsed in different parts of India- controlled Kashmir, Vijay Bakaya, a senior officer of the local government, told a press conference in Srinagar.

Reports from Baramulla and nearby areas said that nearly 20 people have died there.

The worst affected area was Uri near the Line of Control where nearly 200 houses collapsed and two buses with passengers on board fell into gorge.

Indian State Law Minister Muzzaffar Hussain Beigh said the government is taking every step to provide medical facilities to the victims.

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf was quoted by local TV reports as saying that all civil and armed agencies had been engaged in relief operations, Pak Air Force and C-130 were prepared and helicopters were also providing assistance in the relief work.

The government has set up a special cell in the Prime Minister Secretariat which will work around the clock and monitor the situation, he said.

The major quake rocked major Pakistani cities including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country, and in some outskirts areas of Azad Kashmir, several villages have been totally wiped out.

The quake also strongly rattled the eastern parts of Afghanistan and was felt in the north and northeast Balkh, Kunduz, Baghlan Badakhshan and Takhar provinces of the country.

An 11 year old girl was killed as roof caved in on her in Surkhroad district of eastern Nangarhar province, a senior official in provincial police department told Xinhua. He said a number of mud houses collapsed in the neighboring Kama district but left no casualties.

However, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman Yusuf Stanikzai confirmed zero casualties so far except minor damages to mud houses in some areas.

"Every thing is in order and we have not received any report of casualties so far," a grateful Stanikzai told Xinhua.

Source: Xinhua