Four hardcore militants from the 709 battalion of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) surrendered on Thursday before the Army at an Indian Army base at Kamalpur in Kamrup district, about 35 kilometers from Guwahati.

One of the surrendered militants was a sergeant major in the banned group while another was a 17-year-old cadre, who had joined the outfit while he was studying in Class X standard in a Goalpara High School in western Assam.

The militants deposited one China-made pistol with two magazines and 20 rounds of live ammunition, few grenades, four explosive fitted with programmable timer devices (PTD) at the time of surrender, the Army informed.

An Army source informed that surrender of the 17-year-old militant was significant in the sense that it has vindicated security forces' claim that the ULFA has been targeting gullible teenagers to its ranks in the line of the policy adopted by the Sri Lanka's Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Meanwhile, the police on Thursday arrested one prominent physician of Doom Dooma town in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district or charges of providing medical treatment to injured ULFA cadres. Arrested Dr D C Bora is owner of a nursing home at Doom Dooma.