Army official dies in Kashmir barrack fire

An army colonel was killed early Saturday when a fire broke out in a barrack in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, an army official here said.

"A colonel died in the fire which gutted a barrack in north Kashmir. A probe has revealed that the fire was triggered by an electrical short-circuit around 2 a.m.," Lieutenant Colonel J.S. Brar, spokesperson of the army's Srinagar-based 15th Corps, said.

The army is yet to release the name of the colonel who died.

The incident occurred in an army camp located about four km from Bandipora town on the Bandipora-Gurez road, police said.