Hundreds of shops gutted by Kabul blaze (video)

KABUL (PAN): A cloth market caught fire in the Mandawi area of the 1st police district in the central capital Kabul, inflicting financial losses on traders, an official said on Sunday.

The fire that erupted around midnight at the Nasari Market raged on until 5am, the deputy police chief of Kabul, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Daud Amini, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Dozens of fabric shops were burnt, but no one suffered casualties in the incident, the police officer said, adding the reason behind the blaze was yet to be known.

If the fire had not been controlled, a nearby money market could have been devoured, Gen. Amini said.

Nearly 400 shops in the market were gutted, said a shopkeeper, Azizullah, who reached the scene at 2am to save his goods, but security personnel stopped him entering the market. He lost nearly $50,000 worth of goods, the shopkeeper claimed. PAJHWOK/Ataullah Khpulwok and Obaidullah Hussam