Agartala, Oct 24 (IANS): Three tribal militants, who had fled from their hideout in southeastern Bangladesh along with their families, surrendered to security forces in Tripura, police said here Thursday.

The three guerrillas -- self-styled lieutenant of the NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) Chiran Tripura, 42, Sepoy Mangal Mohan Tripura, 27, and area commander Rudra Mohan Reang, 27, -- have also deposited one AK 56 rifle, one SLR (self loading rifle) and a large quantity of ammunition.

"The three NLFT rebels surrendered to the Dhalai district police superintendent Rati Ranjan Debnath Wednesday night," a police spokesman told reporters.

"The NLFT militants fled from their hideout at Khagrachari forest in Chittagong Hill Tracts (in southeast Bangladesh) earlier this week and crossed the border before surrendering to the Tripura police," the spokesman said.

NLFT leader Chiran Tripura surrendered along with his wife and a six-year-old son.

According to the police and the Border Security Force, there are many camps and hideouts of militants from northeast India in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

Senior police officials are interrogating the surrendered militants to get details about the separatist outfits and their cadres sheltering in Bangladesh.

Tripura's two banned militant outfits, the NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force, have set up bases in Bangladesh and get support from other separatist outfits of the northeastern region.

They have been demanding secession of Tripura from India.

Tripura shares a 856-km border with Bangladesh, some of it unfenced and running through dense forests, making it porous and vulnerable.