TEHRAN, Sept 24- An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 has shaken northern Pakistan, killing 19 people and injuring 300, government and police officials said.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)_Media photos and video showed a collapsed building and cracks in roads large enough to swallow cars in Mirpur, a town on Pakistan's side of the disputed territory of Kashmir near India.
"At least 19 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded," said Sardar Gulfaraz, deputy inspector general of police in Mirpur.
Major General Asif Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces, tweeted that army troops with aviation and medical support teams were dispatched.
"Our whole concentration right now is to accelerate the rescue operation," Raja Farooq Haider, prime minister of Pakistan's Azad Kashmir region, told GNN TV. "There are people who are stuck there and who need immediate help. We are putting in all our resources to get people the best of our help."
The quake struck 23 kilometers north of Jhelum, Pakistan, at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
Most damage was in an area between Jhelum and Mirpur, said the chief of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, Lieutenant General Mohammad Afzal.
The last major earthquake in Kashmir happened in 2005, killing more than 80,000 people.
Jhelum is located in northeastern Pakistan, roughly 120 kilometers southeast of Islamabad.
Source: Reuters
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