SWAT, Sept 7: An early morning explosion on Friday rocked two markets in Mingora, destroying 60 shops of video games, CDs and cosmetics, officials and witnesses said.

The explosion ripped through the Ali Plaza around 4.30 am, damaging 20 shops on the first floor and 20 on the ground floor. Another 10 shops of cosmetics and two hair-cutting saloons were destroyed in an adjacent market.

The powerful explosion caused cracks in the buildings. Witnesses saw doors and window-fames flying in the air.

A fire which engulfed the buildings after the bomb blast, reduced to ashes goods worth millions of rupees.

Sources said the owners of the markets and shopkeepers had received warnings from local Taliban militants, asking them to close what they called their illegal and un-Islamic business or be ready for blasts. They said a watchman had stopped coming to work after the militants’ warnings.

District Police Officer Mohammad Iqbal Khan confirmed that leaflets had been found pasted on walls and shops in the markets, warning the shopkeepers that the place would be blown up if the businesses were not closed.