William Reeve reports with the latest pictures

The Islamic Taleban movement, which controls most of the country, accused the opposition alliance of using the earthquake to gain ground with fresh attacks in the north.

The Taleban's Information Minister was quoted as saying the movement's priority was to defend itself against opposition advances.

Taleban: priority to defend itself

"We do not intend to send relief goods. We should first defend," the minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said.

The Taleban lost a key district on Monday in new fighting in the north-east of Afghanistan.

One of the leading opposition commanders, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, said his forces would press ahead with its offensive.

"The Taleban have put very little resistance here. Our soldiers are going forward and fighting is very intense," General Dostum described.

Death toll rising

Local officials now say about 4,000 people are thought to have died in the earthquake.

Up to 60 villages have been completely flattened, with houses shaken off mountainsides and sent crashing into the valleys.

Relief goods are being transported to the quake area

International aid agencies have been evacuating the injured by helicopter. They say aftershocks are preventing people from returning home.

As every day goes by the dangers of disease increase.

A United Nations spokeswoman said the key to the rescue operation was to get shelter to the remaining survivors.

The International Red Cross is hoping to fly out all the injured within the next 24 hours, but the organisation's co-ordinator, Svante Yngrot, says much will depend on the weather.

WHO's Dr Mohammed Jamma: "Area is endemic for malaria"

A BBC correspondent who is in Faizabad, the town at the centre of the relief effort, says the international rescue effort is now in full swing, with piles of tents, tarpaulins and medical supplies building up at the local airport.

The earthquake - which measured up to 7.1 on the Richter scale - struck around the towns of Rostaq and Faizabad in an area close to the border with Tajikistan.

Relief workers say it was fortunate that the earthquake struck during the day when many people would have been outside their homes.

It was more powerful than the earthquake in the same area in February, which killed around 4,000 people.

In that quake, which occurred during the cold winter weather, the tremors were at night when most families were inside.