AFP 
 
KABUL, Jan 5: A strong earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early on Monday, sending people running from their homes, but there were no  immediate reports of damage, witnesses and officials said.

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck at 3:43 am (23:13 GMT Sunday), around 275 kilometres (170 miles) northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul and near the border with Pakistan, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, which struck in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range, was registered at a depth of 190 kilometres, it said.

Shockwaves were felt as far away as Islamabad, where people ran from their homes fearing that buildings would collapse, an AFP correspondent in the Pakistani capital said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties or major damage.

Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are often hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, where seismic activity is high.

A series of quakes has struck the region in recent days, the most recent of which on Sunday was registered at a magnitude of 5.9.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.