Fire hits GenSan shopping mall

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Fire struck a shopping center here, which was bombed last April that killed 21 people, shortly after midnight Sunday.

Arson investigators said they were still establishing what really caused the fire that razed a portion of the Fitmart Shopping Center on Daproza Avenue. Damage to property was initially placed at P1 million.

Before they received the distress call from a security guard of the shopping mall, Pantoja said he heard a loud explosion that sounded like a "warning shot" or an LPG tank blast. The fire station is situated less than 500 meters away from Fitmart.

Both the police and the military, however, doused speculations that the blaze was the handiwork of the "Abu Muslim" group which was reportedly responsible for the recent fires that razed two shopping malls here — the Kimball Plaza and KCC Shopping Mall. — John Paul Jubelag, John Unson