The death toll has surpassed 1,000 after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika Province early on Wednesday, officials said Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise as desperate rescuers dig through collapsed buildings.

The casualties mostly occurred in four districts of the worst-hit Paktika Province. The quake damaged hundreds of houses in the region and also caused landslides, according to local sources.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday extended condolences over the lives lost and the people injured in the earthquake in Afghanistan and said China is willing to provide needed emergency humanitarian aid.