Officials said 211 people were killed on Sunday night in Iran and Iraq and over 1,700 injured as a 7.3-earthquake hit the border region.

According to Iran’s Press TV the epicenter of the quake, which occurred at around 09:18 pm local time on Sunday, was 32 kilometers south of the Iraqi city of Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and just across the border from Iran, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

But the highest casualties occurred in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, in Iran’s Kermanshah Province.

The Legal Medical Organization of Kermanshah has confirmed that it received 207 bodies until Monday morning.

According to the National Disaster Management Organization of Iran, as many as 1,700 people have been injured.

But other officials said the exact number of casualties would not be available for several hours, stating there were still people under the rubble from collapsed buildings.

No reports on the number of casualties were immediately available from the Iraqi government.

Press TV reported that in Iraq, the most extensive damage was in the town of Darbandikhan, 75 kilometers east of the city of Sulaimaniyah in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, and in Iran Kermanshah was hit the hardest.

According to Kurdish Health Minister Rekawt Hama Rasheed, over 30 people were wounded in the town. "The situation there is very critical," he added.

According to reports, the quake and its aftershocks have been felt in many Iranian provinces, including Kordestan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Khuzestan, Hamedan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Tehran, Qazvin, Zanjan and Qom.

A number of aftershocks, including two 4.9- and 4-magnitude ones, followed the seismic, which hit near Iraq’s border with Iran's western Kermanshah province.

The quake was also felt in other regional countries such as Turkey, Kuwait, Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain.