An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale killed at least one person and injured 23, five seriously, as it shook a large area of south-western China's Sichuan province on Tuesday, the government said.

The quake struck at 5:49 pm (0949 GMT) with its epicentre on the border of Sichuan's Qingchuan county and the neighbouring province of Gansu, close to the epicentre of the devastating May 12 earthquake that killed at least 70,000 people.

Initial reports said one person died and 23 were injured, but officials were still waiting for detailed reports from some affected areas, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The quake could be felt in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, where an Olympic torch relay was held just hours earlier, the agency said.

Another aftershock in the same area left at least two people dead and injured 345 others on August 1, the government said.

Tuesday's quake was the latest and one of the strongest of thousands of aftershocks following the May 12 quake.

Some 20,000 people are still listed as missing since the May 12 quake, which destroyed several towns and villages.