KABUL -- Local media reported that at least 260 people have been killed in a series of avalanches across Afghanistan, after days of heavy snowfalls. U.N officials said the number of fatalities is expected to rise further as difficult conditions continue to hamper rescue operations.

Scores of people have been rendered homeless after the avalanches buried their villages, and more are still isolated as roads were blocked by snow. Meanwhile, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 229 have been killed in 18 out of the 34 provinces in the war-torn nation, while reports from local sources pegged the death toll at 260. 

Majority of the deaths were from Panjshir province, where at least 186 people perished in the disaster. Thirty-six people died in Badakhshan province, six in Bamiyan, five in Baghlan, five in Parwan, five in Badghis, four in Laghman, one in Nangarhar and 12 in Nuristan and Kunar provinces, bringing the total to 260.