HYDERABAD, Feb 23: Two more shops selling bamboos and wood were set on fire on Monday by armed arsonists just a day after two fabric shops were set ablaze in similar fashion in Latifabad-No2 in what many saw as an attempt to foment ethnic riots in the city.

There were no casualties from the fires and shop owners claimed losses of millions of rupees.

Two armed motorcyclists lobbed petrol bombs onto the straw-made roof of the shops on Shah Makki road opposite Makki Shah police station at around 8.45am and the fire soon engulfed the shops owned by Bashir Ahmed and his nephew, Peer Ahmed.

The fire was so huge that it took fire fighters from Market, Faqir Jo Pir and central fire brigade Latifabad several hours to bring it under control.

The modus operandi adopted by the arsonists in Sunday and Monday’s incidents is starkly similar. They came on motorcycles, lobbed petrol bombs into the shops and fled away firing in the air.

Eyewitnesses said that motorcyclists came from railway station or Gharib Nawaz bridge and fled towards Latifabad firing in the air. “I was sitting with my partner Shah Zaman when two motorcyclists after throwing bottles into my nephew’s shop lobbed the bottles onto my shop’s roof. One bottle exploded on the roof and the other fell near my feet, which I threw back at them but it missed target,” said Bashir.

Huge quantity of bamboos and straw mats which according to shop owners were worth Rs5 million were reduced to ashes. Fire also damaged the nearby houses and caused cracks in their walls at some places.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil, DPO Hyderabad Ghulam Nabi Memon, MPA Sohail Yusuf and Latifabad Taluka Nazim Sabir Kaimkhani met owners of the shops.

Mr Jamil directed police to take strict action against the miscreants who were trying to destroy peace in the city and also banned pillion-ridding under section 144.

“It’s a conspiracy to foment ethnic riots in Hyderabad,” said Bashir. His nephew said: “We will not let (intriguers) to succeed in their nefarious designs.”

Bashir has lodged a case at the Makki Shah police station against unidentified persons. No arrests have been made so far.

On Sunday six armed motorcyclists threw petrol bombs in locally famous Bara Market in Latifabad-No2, causing fire in two fabric shops.

Police later found a pistol and a petrol bomb bottle at the crime scene.