Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

These shocking images show a woman setting a homeless man’s shelter on fire, destroying all of his worldly goods and also leaving him burned on the feet.

The incident happened in the Nueva Pompeya district of Buenos Aires in Argentina and was captured on CCTV.

The footage shows a woman starting the fire by igniting an object in her hand, and she then uses this to set fire to the man’s mattress.

The man is still sleeping as she then dashes off down the street and is captured on other cameras.

The homeless man was only saved when a passerby walking his dog spotted the flames and raised the alarm.

By this point, the outside of the structure was burning fiercely, and the homeless man could only struggle to pull a small number of his belongings to safety before everything else was destroyed.

He said he lost his clothes and his mattress, and he was also left injured, with burns to his feet.

Police have released the footage in a bid to track down the attacker, who has not yet been identified.

A local who spoke to reporters said there were several homeless people living in the area who never caused any problems, and it was a mystery as to why the woman had attacked the man.

In an interview with local TV, the victim said he did not know the woman despite looking at the images, and had no idea why she had set him alight.