Indian Army confirms first surgical strike carried out in September 2016 to avenge Uri garrison attack

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command of the Indian Army, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, on Monday said that first surgical strike was carried out by armed forces in September 2016 to avenge Uri garrison attack. He remarked that few days ago DGMO had said in a reply to an RTI about this and this is a statement of fact. Lt Gen Singh clarified that he will not comment on what political parties say about surgical strikes and they will be given answer by government.

"Few days ago DGMO said in a reply to an RTI that the first surgical strike happened in Sep 16', I don't want to go into what political parties say, they'll be given an answer by government.What I told you is a statement of fact," Lt Gen Singh was quoted as saying by ANI.

It may be recalled that few days ago, the Congress had claimed that armed forces had conducted ‘six surgical strikes’ during the UPA regime. Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla had also listed the dates when these ‘surgical strikes’ were conducted. Shukla had told media that six surgical strikes were conducted when the Congress-led UPA was in power and two were carried out when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister of India.

“Congress never tried to take credit of these strikes. The one who did only one surgical strike is patting his back. Neither Dr Manmohan Singh nor Vajpayee addressed a press conference to take credit for these strikes," Shukla had said.

Lt Gen Singh also said the airstrikes carried out by 12 Mirage fighter jets of Indian Air Force on terror camps in Pakistan was a major achievement. He added that on February 27 the IAF's fighter jets succeeded in going deep into enemy territory and rained bombs on terror camps of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Lt Gen Singh noted that Pakistan Air Force tried to carry out air operations inside Indian territory the following day but they were thwarted in their attempts by IAF jets.

"Airstrikes by IAF on Balakot terrorist infrastructure was a major achievement, wherein our aircraft went deep into enemy territory & struck terror launchpads. Pakistanis carried out air operations the following day, however they were given a befitting reply," Lt Gen was quoted as saying by ANI.

Lt Gen Singh also told the media that during this year armed forces have succeeded in killing 86 terrorists so far and the security forces would continue to operate against the terrorists in the same manner. "During this year we have been able to neutralize 86 terrorists so far & our operations continue in the same manner. Nearly 20 of them have been apprehended, we've also been able to bring back many of them to the mainstream," Lt Gen Singh remarked.