GROZNY, July 8 (RIA Novosti) - Eleven militants have given themselves up to federal forces in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, the republic's Interior Ministry said Saturday.
"Former members of a group led by Ruslan Gelayev (killed in Dagestan in 2004) and Arab mercenary Abu Dzeit (killed by FSB forces in Ingushetia in 2005) have surrendered to officers of the Kadyrov Special Interior Force Regiment in the republic's Achkhoi Martan district," it said.
The Ministry said all members of illegal armed groups had turned themselves in with arms and ammunition.
"Right now they are in Gudermes where they are being questioned," a ministry spokesman said.
He said negotiations about the militants' surrender had been conducted for a long time.
"Negotiations with the militants, who had been part of the Gelayev and Abu Dzeit gangs and were based in Chechnya's Achkhoi Martan district, continued for almost two months. As a result, they voluntarily surrendered to the Kadyrov Regiment command," he said.
