Civilian killed in blaze at army canteen in Srinagar Cantonment

Srinagar, Jan 19 A civilian was killed in a blaze at an army canteen in J&K’s Srinagar on Saturday, officials said.

Officials said that the fire broke out in the army canteen inside the Badami Bagh Cantonment area of Srinagar.

"A civilian belonging to Haryana lost his life. The civilian, identified as Rajesh Kumar, was shifted to the army’s base hospital in the Badami Bagh area. Due to critical burn injuries, he succumbed in the hospital," an official said

"The canteen was being run by a civilian and it caught fire during the night between January 18 and 19. In this incident, Rajesh Kumar sustained critical burn injuries. Police have registered a case in the incident and an investigation has been started to ascertain the exact cause of the fire that led to the death of the civilian, officials added.

Earlier this week, six soldiers were injured on Tuesday in the Nowshera sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district when a soldier accidentally stepped on a landmine while on patrol duty.

The areas close to the LoC on the Indian side are planted with landmines as a part of the anti-infiltration grid.

A senior army officer told IANS that sometimes due to rain and other factors, the landmines planted at certain places that are marked off on the patrolling map of the army get shifted from their original positions.

"These shifted mines are called drift mines and accidents due to landmines going off are because these drift mines are not marked off on the patrolling map of the army."

Army and the security forces have intensified anti-terrorist operations after the terrorists, under orders from the handlers across the border in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, carried out some dastardly attacks in J&K.

Source: IANS