BADIN, May 8: Ten hotels, a medical store and several shops were reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in a bazaar of Lowari early Thursday morning.

The cause of the fire could not be ascertained but the villagers said it could be an act of vandalism.

No fire brigade arrived to extinguish the fire nor the villagers came out of their homes as restrictions have been imposed on the movement of residents at night time.

The fire petered out after one hour.

The victims have held the district administration responsible for the incident.

The district administration took strict measures to maintain law and order in the area after a dispute between two rival groups over the custody of a local shrine turned violent.

The police, deployed in and around the town, do not allow members of both the groups to open their shops and the bazaar usually remains closed.—Correspondent