The brutal killing of a BSF jawan and mutilation of his body by the Pakistan Rangers has sparked off fresh tensions along the International Border ahead of the second anniversary of “surgical” strikes.

BSF jawans recovered the badly mutilated body of the missing jawan along the fencing in Ramgarh sector of Samba on Tuesday evening.

According to official sources, the eyes of BSF head constable, identified as Narendra Kumar, were gouged out, neck was partially slit and the whole body had marks of burn injuries, including on chest and arms. Three bullet injury marks were found on the body of the martyred jawan.

It is for the first time the Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistan Rangers targeted BSF jawans along the International Border in the recent years.

Vulnerable patches along the International Border have been spruced up to prevent fresh attacks by the BAT.

According to BSF statement, “An area domination patrol of the BSF was targeted by the Pakistan Rangers in Ramgarh sector around 10.40 am on Tuesday morning. The BSF jawans were engaged in the task of clearing wild grass to ensure clear vision. It is suspected the BAT team of the Pakistan Rangers ambushed  the BSF patrolling party after which one of the jawans went missing. The body  of the BSF jawan, injured in the unprovoked firing,  was found after massive search operations in the forward area late on Tuesday evening”.

The  search operation was delayed due to tough posturing by the Pakistan Rangers after they refused to participate in the joint patrol to locate the missing BSF jawan.

It is suspected that the BAT members had dragged injured BSF jawan inside Pakistan territory.

Meanwhile, the BSF raised the issue of killing of its jawan with the Pakistan Rangers at the sector level to register their strong protest against the provocative killing.

The issue also came up during the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO) talks between India and Pakistan on Tuesday evening. “India lodged strong protest over the killing of the BSF soldier during the Colonel level talks between the two sides on the hotline,” sources said in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the BSF jawans have been kept in a state of ‘high alert’ to respond to any extreme provocation from the Pakistan side. Several villagers in the forward areas have been alerted to stay safe in the event of exchange of firing along the International Border.

After the recovery of the body, the BSF authorities in Jammu frontier had escorted team of doctors from Samba to the forward Kandral border outpost to conduct post-mortem late on Tuesday night.

After completing the necessary formalities, the body of the jawan was dispatched to his native place Sonepat in Haryana.