A huge fire swept through a market in downtown Kabul on Sunday, destroying hundreds of shops and forcing the city's nearby money exchange to evacuate, police and witnesses said. There were no reports of any casualties in the early morning blaze which destroyed most of the cloth market's 500 shops, Kabul fire department officials said.
A fire department official speaking on condition of anonymity said an electrical short circuit was the most likely cause of the fire, which was so severe that NATO and Afghan army fire squads were called in to help.
‘We are all working together to get this under control,’ the official said. An AFP photographer at the scene said the fire had reduced hundreds of shops to charcoal. A Kabul police official who also spoke under condition of anonymity said separately that the nearby currency exchange, had to be evacuated
A fire department official speaking on condition of anonymity said an electrical short circuit was the most likely cause of the fire, which was so severe that NATO and Afghan army fire squads were called in to help.
‘We are all working together to get this under control,’ the official said. An AFP photographer at the scene said the fire had reduced hundreds of shops to charcoal. A Kabul police official who also spoke under condition of anonymity said separately that the nearby currency exchange, had to be evacuated