A fire erupted in a busy market in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore Monday, killing at least 13 people and injuring two others, officials said.

An electrical short circuit in a four-storey building was the likely cause of the fire in Anarkali bazaar, where electronic items, lighters, and sunglasses are manufactured and sold, officials said.

"We received 13 dead including one woman and a 13-year-old child," Dr Amjad Shahzad, chief of Lahore`s Mayo hospital told AFP.

"The child was burnt while rest died of suffocation," Shahzad said, adding that the rescue operation was hampered by the narrow streets in the area.

Rescue department spokesman Jam Sajjad confirmed the casualties.

Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and capital of politically influential wheat bowl Punjab province.