A WOMAN has been left temporarily homeless after a suspected arson attack wrecked her house and almost killed her brother-in-law.

Shabreen Nawaz, 21, said that all her possessions were destroyed by the fire at 2am yesterday in St Cecilia Street, Great Harwood.

Police believe two men, who were seen very close to the house soon after the fire started, could be crucial to their investigation.

Mrs Nawaz and her husband Shahid, 26, were out at the time but her brother-in-law Imran Nawaz, 24, was asleep upstairs in the terrace house. A downstairs window was smashed and neighbours saw fierce flames take hold.

Fire crews rescued Mr Nawaz, who was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary but was later allowed home.

Mrs Nawaz said: "I have nothing left, no clothes, no furniture. Everything's black. I don't even know where I am going to sleep."

Forensic experts examined the house yesterday afternoon and sniffer dogs were used to try and establish the cause of the blaze.

DS Paul Broxson, of Accrington CID, said only a 999 call by one of the neighbours had stopped the consequences of the blaze being a lot more serious.

Mr Broxson said a witness also saw two people walking down St Cecilia Street around 2am.

He said: "We haven't been able to track down these two people. Whether they are witnesses or had more sinister reasons for being there, we are unable to say at this time."

Sarah Mahmood, who lives next door to the fire-damaged house with her husband and young daughter, said: "We were woken by a big smash of glass, I think it would have woken anybody up, it was really loud.

"We went outside and saw the flames coming out of the big window, they were very fierce.

"The wind was blowing our way. The police said we should leave our house and we stayed out for a couple of hours."

Another neighbour, Christine Wallace, who has lived on the road for 30 years, said: "We have never had anything like this, I have never heard of any trouble here before.

"We heard the siren and came out and saw all the smoke billowing down the street. It was quite bad."