Twelve people have been injured, including three in critical condition, after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Thursday afternoon, said local authorities.

The quake rocked the border area between the region's Atux City in the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture and Kashgar Prefecture at 6:06 p.m..

The 12 injured were residents of Jiashi County in Kashgar Prefecture, according to a spokesman with the prefecture's committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

However, Jiashi County authorities previously reported the number of injured at 26, with three seriously wounded.

By 10 p.m., no deaths had been reported.

The jolt has also toppled more than 30 units of housing in a township near the epicenter about 90 km away from county seat of Jiashi, according to the prefecture source.

More houses and some roads were damaged in the quake, said rescuers from Jiashi County who had arrived at the township.

About two dozen fire fighters dispatched by the two prefectures are heading to the township. The civil affairs department in Kashgar has allocated 140 tents to the area.

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