UPDATE 2 - Turkey offers support to victims of earthquake

UPDATES WITH TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER'S PHONE CALL TO IRANIAN COUNTERPART, CORRECTS HEADLINE TYPO

By Merve Aydogan and Cansu Dikme

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey pledged its support to the victims of Sunday’s earthquake on the Iran-Iraq border, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday.

“Turkey stands with the brotherly victims of the earthquake,” Yildirim said in a statement.

The prime minister said the government had sent a convoy of medical and food aid and wished speedy recovery to those affected.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed Turkey’s “solidarity” with the people of Iran and Iraq.

It said Turkey was “greatly saddened” by casualties. “The Turkish people… are in solidarity with the people of Iran and Iraq,” the ministry said.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also spoke with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif over the phone on Monday, according to a diplomatic source.

Cavusoglu offered his condolences and said Turkey was ready to provide "all means of help" to Iran, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit around 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the Iraqi city of Halabja at 9.15 p.m. Iraqi time (1815GMT), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Iranian Fars news agency reported at least 328 people dead and around 4,000 others injured, with most casualties taking place in the city of Kermanshah. The death toll is expected to rise.

Iraqi Interior Ministry said seven people were killed and 321 injured in northern Iraq.