An earthquake with magnitude of 5.7 jolted northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday.

The quake hit Tekes county, in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, at 6:06 PM Beijing Time, according to the China Seismological Monitoring Network.

The epicenter, at 42.9 degrees north and 82.4 degrees east, was in a mountainous region 60 kilometers from the county seat and 430 kilometers from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.
People in the valley of Ili River felt the quake, but no casualties have been reported yet.

Teams from local seismological, health and civil departments and the China Earthquake Administration have been dispatched to the site.

Tekes county, with an area of 8,352 square kilometers and a population of 143,000, is 119 kilometers from Yining, capital of Ili.

The epicenter area was sparsely populated, but it could have had herdsmen from the Kazak ethnic minority, said an official with the county government.

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked Xinjiang's Zhaosu County in the Chinese border area with Kazakhstan on Dec. 1, 2003, in which 11 people were killed, 26 were badly injured and more than 700 homes collapsed.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2007)