(23 Jan 2020) More than 600 insurgents belonging to eight different rebel groups surrendered to Indian authorities in a troubled northeastern state on Thursday.
They were responding to a government's peace initiative that will allow them to rejoin mainstream society, police said.
Assam state police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said the rebels also laid down assault rifles, grenades, bombs and other weapons.
"A total number of 644 rebels and their leaders, they are now joining the peace process formally, before the government of Assam and security forces," Mahanta told The Associated Press.
The rebels will now be kept in government-run camps and taught technical skills to take up jobs in the near future.
Government forces are battling dozens of ethnic insurgent groups In India's remote northeast who are pushing demands ranging from independent homelands to maximum autonomy within India.
The surrender ceremony on Thursday was attended by Assam state's top elected official, Sarbananda Sonowal, and some top security officials.
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