Thirty nine militants including 32 from the banned United Liberation Front of Asom surrendered before the Indian Army's [Images] on Friday at the headquarters of the 21 Mountain Division at Rangiya about 45 kilometers from Assam's capital Guwahati.

Of the 39, 32 were from the 709 battalion of the ULFA while four are from Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front and three from All Adivasi National Liberation Army. The militants also deposited assorted weapons and ammunition while surrendering.

General Officer Commanding the 21 Mountain Division, Major General, Chander Prakash said there had been several rounds surrenders by ULFA militants of late and that was reflection of how disillusionment had sent in among the outfit's rank and file.

He said, the sustained counter-insurgency operation by the army in coordination with police and paramilitary forces had virtually broken ULFA's backbone and it was now time for the political leadership to try find a permanent solution to the problem through dialogue.

He claimed that several top leaders of the ULFA's 709 battalion, presently the most active battalion, were in touch with security forces to come over ground.

He hoped that very soon like their counterparts in the ULFA's most potent 28th battalion, the leaders of 709 battalion too would either declare truce.

The crack A and C companies of the ULFA's 28th battalion declared unilateral truce about two months back in order to facilitate talks between the top ULFA leaders and the government of India.

The ULFA had expelled the top leaders of the 28th battalion, Jiten Dutta and Mrinal Hazarika for declaring unauthorised truce by branding them as 'traitors'.