Five houses gutted in fire in Kashmir

Srinagar, Dec 31 (UNI) At least five houses were gutted in a major blaze near the headquarters of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, led by Yasin Malik, at Maisuma here today, a fire department official said.

District Fire Officer Sajjad Ahmed Khan said the blaze started from a house at Maisuma and soon spread to nearby buildings.

He said five houses were completely gutted in the fire. However, no loss of life or injury to anyone was reported in the blaze.

Mr Khan said seven fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the raging flames.

He said Joint Director of Fire Services Department Rajinder Kumar Hak was personally supervising the operation.

Mr Khan said the timely action by fire services personnel prevented the blaze from spreading further.

''If the fire was not controlled in time, it would have resulted in disaster as Maisuma is one of the highly congested areas of the Srinagar city,'' he added.

The official said the cause of the fire was believed to be short circuit.

UNI