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More than 600 houses were destroyed leaving thousands of people homeless after a huge fire razed a slum area in a suburb of the Philippine capital on Sunday, civil defence officials said.

There were no immediately confirmed fatalities but officials said the smoke was too thick to thoroughly search the scene, where witnesses said they saw at least one firefighter injured as he battled the blaze.

The inferno broke out in the early afternoon and raged into the night, forcing city authorities to close down a major highway as it was clogged with fire trucks.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, Metro Manila officials said.

Slum areas in the Philippine capital are vulnerable to fires because the houses, often made from salvaged wood, are built close together, sometimes even piled on top of one another.

AFP/fa