Property worth thousands of dollars were also destroyed during the fire which caught the ill-fated shops where building materials were sold, according a Somali businessman in Juba, Abdullahi Kheyre.

He said their efforts to put out the fire were obstructed by south Sudanese troops who sealed off the area till all their properties in the shops were consumed in the fire.

The incident comes just two months after a similar incident happened in parts of Juba town where property worth thousands of dollars were destroyed by fire.