More than 2,000 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan and more than 9,000 injured, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.

The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 kilometers northwest of the city of Herat, with one measuring 6.3 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

They were among the world's deadliest quakes in a year when tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.