Firing in Kabul

[JAMALUDEEN]

There has been firing going on in Kabul Mandawee since 8 o clock. Does anyone know anything about it?

[Joey_Gladstonezai]

No, but we will find out soon. I pray for the safety of all of our brave men and women in uniform and am sad that they can't be with their families this holiday season.

[ډګروال]

Huge fire destroyd around 500 shops in kabul

Fire destroys market in Afghanistan capital - YouTube

A huge fire has swept through a market in downtown Kabul, destroying hundreds of shops and forcing the city's nearby money exchange to evacuate.

There were no reports of any casualties in the early Sunday 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.

A witness at the scene said the fire had reduced hundreds of shops to charcoal.

A Kabul police official said separately that the nearby currency exchange market, the war-torn country's largest, had to be evacuated as the fire approached its outer walls.

"Police helped the money market evacuate and remove their money from the market to safe places," he said.

The Afghan capital, which is home to around five million people, has a poor fire safety reputation, though the fire department was upgraded with international help after the fall of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

AFP