At least eight civilians and three civil defense members were hospitalized after experiencing breathing difficulties while trying to control the massive fire which ripped through a local bazar in central Duhok on early Monday.

The fire, which started at around 3:30 am, engulfed Duhok’s Chale Bazar, burning around 140 shops and 20 warehouses, according to Hassan Khurshid, the head of Duhok’s civil defense directorate.

At least 24 civil defense teams, comprising over 400 members, participated in putting out the blaze, which was fully controlled over three hours after it started.

Khurshid noted that efforts of the civil defense teams helped save around 1,000 shops from the fire.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, but several shopkeepers alleged that it was due to a short circuit.

There have been several major fires in the Kurdistan Region recently.

A large fire engulfed Erbil’s Langa bazaar late February, allegedly caused by an electric short circuit, burning hundreds of shops.