ISLAMABAD, May 11: A fire gutted thirty stalls at G-9/4 Itwar Bazaar on Wednesday, reducing goods worth Rs3 million to ashes, stall owners, fire department and police said. However, no one was hurt as the bazaar was closed. It was third incident in the bazaar in one-and-a-half years.

Electric short-circuiting during a welding operation on the northern side of the sprawling bazaar ignited the fire around 2:30pm. It set ablaze foam mattresses stored in a nearby stall and the fire spread quickly to other stalls.

A senior official of the Capital Development Authority indicated to Dawn that the CDA might compensate for the losses, but he contested the claims about the cause of the fire and the damage it caused.