Kurdistan university housing fire kills 14

At least 14 people died on Friday in a fire at a university accommodation block in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, local authorities said.

Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw broadcast footage of firefighters at work in front of the building which houses academic staff and students from Soran University.

The channel reported that a preliminary investigation found the fire was caused by an "electrical short circuit".

The state news agency INA said local health authorities had confirmed 14 deaths and 18 injuries.

The fire, on the third and fourth floors of the building, was brought under control, INA said, quoting the civil defence.

The prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Masrour Barzani, has called for an investigation to determine the causes of the blaze.