More than 260 people have been killed in a series of avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall around Afghanistan this week, according to officials.
The bulk of the deaths have come in Panjshir province, north of Kabul, where at least 186 people were killed, acting provincial governor Abdul Rahman Kabiri told AFP.
Kabiri said president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was due to inspect and visit the damage to the northern reaches of the valley late on Friday.
"Unfortunately, death toll has risen to 186 people killed in avalanches in Panjshir province," Kabiri said, warning it was not the final toll.
The avalanches came after days of heavy snow, which destroyed more than 100 homes in the province and blocked main roads, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.
The death toll was confirmed by Panjshir provincial police chief, Abdul Aziz Ghairat, to AFP.
"The volume of snow is really huge in districts in Panjshir," Ghairat said, "There are some districts where we do not have any any news from them, the communication lines have cut off due to avalanches."
Mohammad Aslam Sayas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said the army was distributing supplies to people in areas of Panjshir still unreachable by road.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, 36 died in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan, five in northern Baghlan, five in Parwan and 12 in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in the east, and five in western Badghis.
Six were killed in the central province of Bamiyan, four in Laghman and one in Nangarhar, both in the east - bringing the total toll to at least 260.
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