Handwara: As many as 22 shops were gutted in a midnight blaze at Lawoosa area in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

The shops in the shopping complex within an Army brigade got damaged in the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday, officials said.

The shop owners said that the fire broke out at around 11:00 pm and engulfed the whole shopping complex, damaging at least 22 shops belonging to civilians including non-locals.
Manzoor Ahmad, one of the owners running a shop said that after the fire broke out, nobody among them was allowed to enter the premises adding they were still waiting outside the army brigade premises to be allowed to assess the damage to their respective shops.

“Whatever the stock accumulation was done in recent days, has turned into ashes and nothing belonging to the owners could be saved,” he said.

Manzoor said that the ATM, post office and engineering store belonging to the Army brigade has also been gutted in the fire incident but as of now none among them were allowed to enter within the Army unit.

He also said that as of now they were not being informed about the actual cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, a police official said that a police party has been rushed to the spot and details related to the incident are being gathered and will be shared later accordingly. (KNO)

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