PESHAWAR (AFP) - At least 14 people were killed and another three injured when lightning struck two houses in north-west Pakistan, officials said on Sunday (Sept 12).

The incident took place in Torghar, a mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where torrential monsoon rains and landslides have caused havoc since Wednesday.

"At least 14 people from the same extended family were killed after lightning struck two adjoined houses," Mr Kamran Bangash, the provincial spokesman, told AFP.

The dead included five children and four women, he added.

The monsoon, which usually lasts from June to September, is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing water supplies across the Indian subcontinent, but each year also brings a wave of destruction.

In a similar incident in November 2019, some 18 people were killed by a lightning strike in Pakistan's Thar desert.