Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, who announced surgical strikes to the world, takes over as chief of Northern Command

Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh took over as chief of army's northern command, which looks after the operational area of sensitive Jammu and Kashmir. He took over as chief of the command from Lieutenant General Devraj Anbu, who assumed the charge of the Vice Chief of Army Staff.

LG Singh was the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) with Indian Army commandos carried out the surgical strikes against insurgent camps in Myanmar in June 2015 and terror launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29, 2016 and had briefed the media about the operations.

The general officer was commissioned into the 9th Battalion of the Dogra Regiment in 1980 and has had varied staff and command exposures, a defence spokesman said. He has commanded a mountain brigade, an armoured division and the Strike Corps. His tenures also include United Nations Peace Keeping assignment at Rwanda and Chief Operations Officer at Sudan, he said. Besides other staff and instructional appointments, he has had multiple tenures in military operations directorate in various ranks including as Director General Military Operations of the Army, spokesman said.

Prior to taking over as the Northern Army Commander he was tenating the charge of the Deputy Chief of Army Staff. On assuming the charge, the Army Commander conveyed his greetings to all ranks and expressed his commitment to take forward the excellent work by his predecessors in these challenging conditions, the spokesman said.