A fire broke out at a big market, engulfing nearly 200 shops, in Afghanistan's western Herat province, the provincial head of craftsmen union said Saturday.

Iran press/ Asia: "The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. local time at Qasr-e-Herat market in 2nd Municipality District of the Herat city, engulfing 200 shops of different commodities, mostly clothes and cosmetics, costing 100 million Afghanis (about 1,163,000 U.S. dollars)," Abdul Wadood Faizzada told Xinhua.

Abdul Latif Insaf, the provincial police spokesperson, said that the blaze, resulting from electrical sparks, occurred Friday midnight but was controlled by the fire department personnel within hours.

"The fire left no casualties or injuries but inflicted heavy property losses on the local businesspersons," Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying.

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