Residents of the Afghan capital are grappling with the aftermath of a massive fire that destroyed hundreds of stores overnight at a market in central Kabul, incinerating businesses and leaving an apocalyptic scene of disaster in its wake.
No casualties were reported but the loss was estimated in the millions of dollars.
Firefighters were still struggling, pouring water over smouldering flames in daylight on Friday, more than 13 hours after the blaze started at the city's largest market for electronic goods and home appliances.
One of the merchants, Hejratullah Khan, sifted through the charred ruins of one of his three mobile phone stores that the fire had destroyed.
"There's nothing left .... in one night, everything is gone, everything," Khan as he recounted how it took him 10 years to build up his business.
His Dunya Mobile stores were a fixture in Kabul. "We were the largest mobile phone shops," he said as he rummaged through the stacks of mobile phones melted into black twisted blobs of metal
Khan's life savings and those of his two brothers were gone. The three had invested $A680,000 into their stores, slowly growing their business even as Afghanistan's violent conflict of 17 years brought increased security concerns.
What started as an apparent electrical fire began shortly after 6pm on Thursday, when stores were closed for the night.
The blaze roared through shop after shop before firefighters were able to contain it. They struggled with an erratic supply of water, drawn from water lines with very little pressure, as convoys of water trucks were brought in.
Investigators were trying to determine where the fire began as well as what had caused it.
Khan said he watched for hours as his stores burned - stores that had fed 30 members of his family, he said.
Hundreds of other store owners scrambled to save what they could, some carrying large television sets on their backs, others stacking what they found onto wheelbarrows.
Dozens of the storeowners gathered on Friday at the scene said they would demand compensation from the government.
"Every day in our country people are dying from war and suicide bombers, violence and now this," Khan said, staring at the ruins.
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