As of 25 August, 163 former militants in the North Caucasus had laid down their arms in a campaign started to give them the chance to surrender after Russia's terrorist number one, Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the 2004 Beslan school massacre and other atrocities, was killed on July 10.
The republic's government announced earlier that 50 militants would lay down arms on Tuesday during a ceremony in the eastern town of Gudermes.
"It became possible thanks to work conducted by Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov with the relatives of the militants," a government source said.
The National Anti-Terror Committee extended the term for the voluntary surrender for militants in the North Caucasus until September 30. Chechnya's president, Alu Alkhanov, has requested that the federal authorities extend the amnesty deadline until January 1.
But sporadic fighting between federal troops and militants in Chechnya continues. On August 27, a group of unidentified assailants attacked food and munitions depots in mountainous Shatoi district in southern Chechnya, killing a contract serviceman.
