An early morning fire, on Thursday razed down a section of popular Singer Market in Kano, destroying shops and warehouses.

Singer, one of the biggest wholesale markets in Northern part of Nigeria, serves as a trading hub for neighbouring African countries.

Confirming the fire outbreak, the state director of the fire service, Balarabe Kabara said the fire, which started around 6:00am, destroyed several number of shops in the market.

“We are yet to ascertain the actual number of shops destroyed as we are still battling to put out the inferno.

“We cannot give you the number of shops affected but the fire had destroyed many shops”, he said.

Witness Aminu Inuwa said the fire started around 4:15 am and destroyed lines of shops in the market.

He said apart from the shops and the malls consumed by the fire, warehouses of food stuff and essential commodities were also affected.