A strong earthquake hit large parts of northern Iraq and the capital Baghdad on Sunday, and also caused damage in villages across the border in Iran where state TV said at least six people had been killed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Iraq after the quake, whose epicentre was in Penjwin, in Sulaimaniyah province which is in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region very close to the Iranian border, according to an Iraqi meteorology official. But eight villages were damaged in Iran and at least six people were killed and many others injured in the border town of Qasr-e Shirin in Iran, Iranian state TV said.

The US Geological Survey said the quake measured a magnitude of 7.3, while an Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5 according to preliminary information. Israel too.

Copyright Reuters, 2017