Faizabad (Afghanistan), Feb 11 (IANS): Two people were killed and six others injured after an avalanche struck their vehicle in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province, a local official said on Saturday.

The disaster took place on Friday afternoon due to heavy snowfall in the province's Raghistan district, provincial director for Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs Mohammad Kamgar was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

Heavy snowfall and chilly weather have cut off Badakhshan's provincial capital Faizabad city to some districts over the past couple of days, Kamgar said, adding efforts were underway to clean up the roads linking districts to Faizabad.

Another avalanche also claimed two lives and injured three others in Raghistan district last week.

Heavy snowfall and cold weather have swept through parts of Afghanistan since the first week of January as temperature dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius in some areas and have killed more than 170 people in the country, according to the official.