Eleven shops were burnt in an early morning fire at a shopping mall near the Jimeta Ultramodern Market in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
The affected mall is a new but rapidly developing marketplace known as Fallujah, located directly opposite the older Jimeta Market in Yola North Local Government Area.
Sources said the affected shops at Fallujah went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday, while residents were welcoming the New Year.
A trader in the market, Abubakar Yahaya, said goods in the 11 affected shops could not be saved because no one was around to raise the alarm.
Yahaya, however, said that when the fire later came to the attention of local guards and police operatives, they intervened and prevented it from spreading further.
He said the fire is believed to have started from a shop selling second-hand clothes, possibly due to an electrical fault.
