Muzaffarnagar (UP) (PTI): A four-year-old girl was killed after being allegedly thrown into a water tank by unidentified assailants while her mother sustained severe stab injuries in an alleged attack at their home here late on Monday, police said.

Three other children of the injured woman -- identified as Firdosh (40) -- also sustained minor injuries in the alleged incident which took place in Basikala village under Shahpur police station limits, they said.

Her husband, Imran, was not present at home at the time of the incident.

Shahpur Station House Officer Gajendra Singh told reporters on Tuesday that the injured woman was rushed to hospital. Three of her children sustained minor injuries in the incident while her four-year-old daughter was killed. The body of the deceased has been sent for postmortem examination.

According to local residents, the incident possibly took place as Firdosh opposed an alleged illicit relationship between her sister-in-law and another man.

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Kabul (AP): An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday, killing at least eight people in Afghanistan, authorities said.

The region is highly seismically active, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the US Geological Survey.

Hafizullah Basharat, a spokesman for the Kabul governor, said eight people were killed and a child was injured when a house collapsed on the outskirts of the capital. He said all were members of the same family.

Kabul is roughly 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of the epicentre. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from areas closer to the epicentre. The area is remote, and it can often take several hours before local authorities can relay information back to Kabul.

With the epicentre at a depth of over 180 kilometers, the quake jolted a wide swath of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Pakistan, it was felt in the cities and towns of Islamabad, Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in Pakistan.

Afghanistan's Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said Kabul and provincial health authorities had been put on alert.

Last August, a 6.0 earthquake that struck a remote, mountainous part of eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. Most casualties were in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep valleys.

In November, a 6.3 earthquake struck Samangan province in northern Afghanistan, killing at last 27 people and injuring more than 950. It also damaged historical sites, including Afghanistan's famed Blue Mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and the Bagh-e-Jahan Nama Palace in Khulm.

On Oct 7, 2023, a 6.3 quake followed by strong aftershocks in western Afghanistan killed thousands of people.

Impoverished Afghanistan often faces difficulty in responding to natural disasters, especially in remote regions. Many homes in rural and outlying areas are made from mud bricks and wood, with many poorly built.