A 6.3 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday struck western Afghanistan, hitting an area where more than 2,000 people were killed after a series of similar tremors last weekend.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at a shallow depth around 05:10 a.m. local time (00:40 GMT), with its epicenter about 29 kilometers north of Herat.

Volunteers and rescuers have been working since Saturday in what are now last-ditch attempts to find survivors from the earlier series of earthquakes.

According to the United Nations (UN), it has affected more than 12,000 people and entire villages.

Local and national officials have given conflicting counts of the number of dead and injured from the previous earthquakes, but the disaster ministry has said 2,053 people died.

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"We can't give exact numbers for dead and wounded as it is in flux," said disaster management ministry spokesman Mullah Janan Sayeq.

There were no immediate reports of new casualties after Wednesday's quake, which hit near Herat city, home to more than half a million people.

Herat province, on the border with Iran, is home to around 1.9 million people, and its rural communities have been suffering from a years-long drought.