By Mustafa Melih Ahishali

MASHHAD, Iran

At least one person was killed and another 17 injured by a 6-magnitude earthquake that shook Iran’s northeastern Mashhad province on Wednesday, according to local officials.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted an official at Iran’s disaster management agency in the northeastern Razavi Khorosan province as saying that 20 villages in and around Mashhad -- located near the Afghan border -- had sustained damage as a result of the quake. 

In January of this year, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake left four people dead in Iran’s southern Fars province.