Agartala, Sep 19 (IANS) More than 400 militants of the Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) would surrender later this month in Tripura, raising hopes for repatriation of 35,000 Reang tribal refugees sheltered to their homeland in Mizoram.

"At least 417 BLFM cadres will lay down arms and ammunition at a ceremony in north Tripura and then surrender before the Mizoram government," said Elvis Chorkhy, general secretary of Bru Displaced People's Forum (BDPF).

"The Mizoram government has been insisting that the repatriation of Reang refugees will not begin until Bru militancy was wiped out completely," Chorkhy told IANS over phone.

The Reang refugees have been sheltered in six north Tripura camps since 1997 following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos in Mizoram.

The BDPF leader alleged that police opened fire on Bru rebels Sunday at Kanchanpur, 180 km north of here, when the cadres were making preparations for the surrender ceremony. Four BLFM members and a tribal woman were injured.

The Mizoram government and the militant Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) last year signed an agreement to solve the decade-old ethnic problem.

Both the rebel outfits have been fighting for setting up of autonomous council for the refugees.

The Tripura government had earlier asked Mizoram and New Delhi to take early steps to repatriate the refugees.