(Reuters) -A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday, killing at least seven people and injuring about 150, just months after a quake and strong aftershocks killed more than 2,200 people at the end of August.

Here is a look at why the war-shattered South Asian country experiences frequent tremors, and how their impact can be reduced:

ARE EARTHQUAKES COMMON IN AFGHANISTAN?

Inside a restored house in central Tehran, toys from every era, from ancient Persia to Soviet Russia and the United States, share the same space, stirring childhood memories from long ago.

"I always thought that the target audience would be children and teenagers," said 46-year-old Azadeh Bayat, founder of the museum, which opened last year after six years of renovations.

"But now even adults visit the museum frequently," she told AFP.

Bayat, a researcher in children's education, has gathered more than 2,000 toys from around the world.

Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with analysts saying Iran will be watching closely as it hopes to retain influence over its neighbour after losing regional leverage during the Gaza war.

The past two years have seen Iran-backed groups including Palestinian militants Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen suffer heavy losses at Israel's hands.

Israel said on Sunday it had received the remains of three additional captives from Hamas as part of the ongoing hostage-prisoner exchange under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement for Gaza.

Despite occasional flare-ups, a fragile truce has held in Gaza since October 10 under a deal focused on the return of all Israeli hostages, both living and dead.

"Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffins of three fallen hostages that were handed over to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside the Gaza Strip," the prime minister's office said.

A young man from one of the towns outlying the western Sudanese city of El-Fasher, Hussein was one of hundreds of men and boys captured and held by paramilitary forces that have overrun the area.

"We were rounded up and taken," he told AFP on Sunday, explaining how he and roughly 200 other young men were detained for days by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters in Garni, 25 kilometres northwest of El-Fasher, after they tried to flee.

"They hit us with sticks and called us 'slaves'," said Hussein, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisal.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraq signed a deal with Turkey on Sunday under which water infrastructure projects to be carried out by Turkish firms will be financed with revenue from oil sales, a Turkish official said.

The Iraqi prime minister's office said in a statement that the two countries had signed an accord on an implementation mechanism for a water cooperation agreement that they sealed last year. It did not provide details on the mechanism.

By Pesha Magid and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, health authorities said, as Israel and Hamas traded blame for daily violations of a fragile truce that has largely halted two years of war.

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck a militant who was posing a threat to its forces.

Al-Ahli Hospital said one man was killed in the airstrike near a vegetable market in the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City. His identity was not immediately known.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo on Sunday appealed for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Sudan, saying he was following with "great sorrow" reports of terrible brutality in the city of Al-Fashir in Darfur.

"Indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on defenceless civilians and serious obstacles to humanitarian action are causing unacceptable suffering," the pope said during his weekly Angelus address to crowds in St. Peter's Square.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to call at a meeting in Istanbul on Monday for arrangements to be made as soon as possible to ensure the security and administration of Gaza by Palestinians, a foreign ministry source said on Sunday.

The foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia are set to join the meeting on ceasefire developments and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Turkish foreign ministry source said.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Tehran will rebuild its nuclear facilities "with greater strength", Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media on Sunday, adding that the country does not seek a nuclear weapon.

U.S.President Donald Trump has warned that he would order fresh attacks on Iran's nuclear sites should Tehran try to restart facilities that the United States bombed in June.

Pezeshkian made his comments during a visit to the country's Atomic Energy Organization, during which he met with senior managers from Iran’s nuclear industry.