A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper on Sunday stabbed a colleague and escaped with the latter's light machine gun (LMG) on the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Trooper Rajeev Rajan, a resident of Darbanga in Bihar, stabbed Raghubir Singh at the Beli Azmat post in Kanachak area in Jammu district, a senior police officer told IANS.

Rajan later escaped with a LMG and 10 magazines. Both the troopers belonged to the 89th Battalion of BSF.

The officer said Rajan had been sanctioned leave with effect from July 21.

"Initial investigations reveal he did not leave for his home on July 21 but was hiding after leaving the post till he managed to return secretly to stab his colleague and decamp with the LMG.

"The injured trooper has been shifted to a hospital," the officer said.

A high alert has been sounded to trace the missing trooper. Police in neighbouring Punjab have also been alerted.