The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, today said the 2016 surgical strike by the Indian Army was the first surgical strike of the country.

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, who was then Director General of Military Operations and the face of the surgical strike operation, said, “I will not comment on the political statements made by any party, but in reply to an RTI, the DGMO recently informed the Ministry of Defence that the first surgical strike was carried out in 2016.”

A few days ago, the Congress had claimed that six surgical strikes were conducted during the UPA regime and two during Vajpayee’s tenure.