The quake was felt at 10:49 am (0549 GMT) in several cities including the capital Islamabad and the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, which was devastated by a massive quake on October 8.

The epicentre of the "moderate" quake was 200 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Peshawar, Mohammed Akram, an official at the meteorological office in the northwestern city, told AFP.

Witnesses in Islamabad, where people were celebrating the Muslim sacrificial festival of Eid Al-Adha, said lights shook in some houses but there was no sign of panic.

Seismologists said it was likely an aftershock of last October's huge 7.6-magnitude quake, which killed more than 74,000 people in Pakistan and in the Indian and Pakistani zones of Kashmir.

Since the quake more than 1,500 aftershocks have rocked the region. The last major one, on December 29, measured 5.3 on the Richter scale.

Akram said the quake was felt in Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Islamabad and Balakot.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.