Hundreds of people have been injured in a series of earthquakes in Western Iran, local officials said.
The 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit late last night injuring hospitalising more than 20 in the cities of Kermanshah province, according to Iranian Crisis Management Director. Others have been sent to other hospitals around the city, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.
The epicentre of the earthquake is less than 50 km from the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja. No injuries have been reported in Iraq.
Iranian authorities reported the quake was followed by 40 aftershocks and destroyed 80 houses in the west of the country.
According to the Seismological Centre of the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, an aftershock from the 5.9 earthquake hit the south of Iran but no injuries were reported.
Iran lies on a major fault line and is hit by earthquakes almost daily.
Iran was hit by a 7.3 earthquake in the western provinces killed 620 people and killed more than 12,000.
Both Iran and Iraq are vulnerable to even minor earthquakes as provinces along the fault line typically suffer from poor infrastructure.
Earthquakes along the fault lines in Iran and in Pakistan can be felt as far away as the GCC and cause tsunamis to crash along cities of the Arabian Gulf.
