KABUL, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Several shops have been turned to ash or partially damaged as a market caught fire in northern Afghanistan's Takhar province on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Nizamudin Omir said.

The fire that erupted in a wood-selling market at 02:30 a.m. local time in Khawaja Bahaudin district has devoured several shops inside the market and also badly damaged a wheat-selling bazaar nearby, the official added.

Preliminary survey indicates that the fire, which was extinguished within hours, had inflicted damages worth more than 4 million afghani (around 59,000 U.S. dollars) to the shopkeepers in the area, the official further said.

In post-war Afghanistan, especially in rural areas, people often rely on wood as fuel, using it for cooking and heating. ■