KHAR: Three shops were destroyed and five others were partially damaged when a blast ripped through a bazaar in Bajaur Agency`s Mamund tehsil in the early hours of Sunday, local administration officials said.

They said the incident took place at around 1.15am in Kamar Sar area, some 14 kilometers northwest of Khar, the administrative headquarters of Bajaur.

They said unknown miscreants had planted explosive devices in the cloth market in the bazaar.

The explosives went off with a bang, razing at last three shops and damaging five others.

Soon after the incident, a team of the political administration accompanied by personnel of Bajaur Levies reached the spot, but no one was arrested. However, the officials defused another bomb planted along the shops in the cloth market.

Meanwhile, a political administration official said four watchmen of the bazaar had been arrested for questioning.

According the shopkeepers, the blast caused Rs17 million financial losses to them, and demanded of the political administration to compensate them.-Correspondent