A day after a Border Security Force jawan’s body was found in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials alleged on Wednesday that his throat was slit by Pakistan Rangers, according to The Indian Express.

The soldier, identified as head constable Narender Singh, was found dead hours after alleged cross-border firing by Pakistan in Samba district on Tuesday. The firing had started around 10.40 am in Ramgarh sector, and the Indian troops retaliated, a spokesperson for the force said.

Singh was missing for around nine hours before his body was found. It had three bullet wounds on the chest, shoulders and legs. He was part of an eight-member group who had gone near the border to cut foliage, officials said.

Officials have issued a “high alert” along the International Border and the Line of Control following the incident, PTI reported. “The body of the jawan bears three bullet injuries and his throat has been slit,” an unidentified official told the news agency. “This is an unprecedented action that has happened with the Indian forces along the IB and the Pakistani troopers are behind this. The BSF and other forces will undertake a counter-action at a suitable time.”

The Ministry of External Affairs and the Director General of Military Operations are expected to take up the matter with their Pakistani counterparts, officials claimed.

The incident came a day after Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated two pilot projects of “smart border” fencing built under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System programme. The Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System is a five-layer elaborate plan to end infiltration along the 2,900-km western border with Pakistan, and is expected to prevent Pathankot-like attacks as well as smuggling. It was reportedly approved in April 2016.