Apparatus for securing a suture thread to a region of tissue, the apparatus comprising: first and second elongate jaws respectively having first and second longitudinal axes and first and second gripping surfaces for gripping and holding a region of tissue at a tilt angle relative to the first and second axes when the jaws are closed a channel in the first elongate jaw having a substantially straight section extending along the first longitudinal axis and a curved section that extends from the straight section to the first gripping surface for housing at least one suture anchor configured to secure a portion of a suture thread to the tissue region, and a flexible needle inside the channel that extends along the straight section and is controllable to extract a suture anchor in the channel from the first jaw through the curved section and drive the extracted suture anchor through the tissue region to secure the suture thread.
