Srinagar, Sept 23: An army soldier ended his life by shooting himself dead in Keran area along the Line of Control in Kupwara district last night, official sources said on Thursday.

They said, the soldier Lokinder Singh Thakur, posted with army’s 6RR, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, fired from own service weapon at a post in Keran last night at about 2230 hours. Although he was immediately shifted in serious condition to nearby army health facility, they said, the doctors there declared him brought dead on the arrival. It was not immediately known as to why the soldier took the extreme step, the official sources said.

His body has been shifted to SDH Kupwara for postmortem and connected medico-legal formalities, they said.

A defence ministry spokesman based in Srinagar, when contacted  about the incident, feigned ignorance about the incident. “I will check the details,” he said. gns