Jalalabad blaze causes huge losses

JALALABAD (PAN): Traders on Wednesday claimed suffering $161,780 (8,000,000 afghanis) losses as a result of a fire that gutted a market in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said.

The fire broke out in the second police district of Jalalabad, the provincial capital, late on Tuesday night, inflicting huge financial losses on traders, the Nangarhar police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Brig. Gen. Abdullah Stanikzai said that firefighters and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, who arrived at the scene in time, were able to put out the blaze caused by a gas cylinder.

Yusuf Khan, a trader who sustained injuries in the incident, said he had lost commercial goods worth 1.5 million afghanis. However, he had no idea what caused the blaze.

mrh/ma/mud