A huge fire razed two markets in central Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Sunday, turning more than 600 shops to ashes, police said.

"Two garment wholesale markets named Rahis and Nasiri Market caught fire at about 11 p.m. (local time) Saturday and the fire is still ongoing as of Sunday noon," a police official told Xinhua at the scene.

More than 100 fire fighters were continuing their hectic efforts to extinguish the fire, he said.

The two famous garment markets were located in Mandawi, a main commercial district which accommodates hundreds of garment and toiletry wholesale markets in the city with a population of more than 5 million.

"I am lucky I could only save my 90,000 U.S. dollars cash from my safe in my shop early this morning but all of my goods are burning as you see," a shop owner Sakhi Mohammad told Xinhua near the scene.

The cause for the incident has not been clear so far but some shopkeepers believed that shot circuit caused the disaster.

The police officer said that the cause of the fire will be made public after investigation.

"The damages could be millions of dollars," Mohammad said, adding hundreds of shops around the area escaped the fire as fire fighters were working hard to bring the situation under control.

War-torn Afghanistan lacks fire-prevention facilities particularly in old buildings and blazes, coupled with inadequate fire-fighting forces and people's weak sense of fire security, have long troubled the country.

At least 20 people were killed and 183 others were seriously injured in two separate fires in Kabul in July this year. Endi

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