Several commanders and more than a dozen fighters of the militant group Boko Haram have surrendered to the military in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno.
''Four key Boko Haram commanders, 13 main fighters, and a total of 45 family members, laid down their arms and surrendered to troops,'' a spokesperson for a multi-national military force Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi said in a statement on Saturday.
The surrender of the insurgents was a result of ''escalated kinetic and non-kinetic operations by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), coupled with a dwindling logistic supply in Boko Haram hideouts,'' Abdullahi added.
The militants laid down their arms and surrendered to troops in the towns of Cross Kauwa and Baga in Kukawa of Borno state. They handed their weapons including ''seven AK-47 rifles, one FN Rifle (SLR), nearly 440 rounds of assorted calibre ammunition and other essential tools of insurgency,'' the military said.
The multi-national force stressed ''an urgent call to all remaining Boko Haram insurgents, urging them to embrace peace and surrender as operations intensify.''
Rocket recovered
In a separate statement, the regional force said troops have ''neutralised five terrorists'' in Cameroon's Far North region and ''successfully recovered substantial weapons and ammunition from the disrupted insurgents.''
The weapons recovered include two AK 47 rifles, one Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) tube, and several hundreds of 7.62-millimeter ammunition, the military said.
Thousands of militants have surrendered in recent years in Nigeria and neighbouring countries with the authorities offering them amnesty as well as rehabilitation and de-radicalisation services to enable them reintegrate into the society.
The Multi-national Joint Task Force (MNJTF) is a joint military operation by several countries in the Lake Chad region. Under the operation, troops have been battling Boko Haram insurgents for several years.
The Boko Haram insurgency which started in Nigeria in 2009 has spread to neighbouring countries of Niger, Cameroon and Chad. More than 300,000 have been killed directly or indirectly by the conflict since then.
