(RIA Novosti) - Five participants of illegal armed units have given themselves up to police in Ingushetia, the North Caucasus republic's Interior Ministry said Saturday. Besides, another two militants have turned themselves in to police in Chechnya over the last 24 hours, the republic's law enforcement agencies said.Although authorities have announced that the active phase of the counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus is over, violence continues to affect the region. Through a partial amnesty announced on July 15, following the killing of the region's number one terrorist Shamil Basayev, militants not involved in major atrocities were promised leniency. A law granting amnesty to militants and servicemen guilty of offenses during the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign came into force in late September.
More than 300 militants have accepted the surrender offer since its announcement, mainly in Chechnya, according to Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and the National Antiterrorism Committee.