09-03-2004, 12:52 PM
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#19 (permalink)
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don't ignore this-->
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please include the body of the articles you link to!
Quote:
High death toll in Russia siege
It is not clear how many hostages are free
At least 200 people have died at a school in southern Russia where suspected Chechen separatists were holding hundreds of hostages.
Dozens of corpses including children's bodies were seen outside a morgue, and the number of dead is expected to rise.
Hundreds were injured as the siege reached a violent and chaotic climax.
Fighting around the school has now subsided and most hostage-takers have been captured or killed, though reports say four are still at large.
Regional leader Alexander Dzasokhov went on TV on Friday evening to declare the siege officially over.
Some blasts are still being heard around the school, believed to be controlled explosions by sappers clearing mines and trip-wires planted by hostage-takers in the school.
Terrified children
Heavy gunfire and explosions began on Friday morning and it was many hours before special forces had control of the school in Beslan, North Ossetia.
1 - At 0850GMT a vehicle from the Emergencies Ministry is sent in to retrieve the bodies of those killed at the start of the siege
2 - A series of blasts rock the gym, bringing the roof down.
3 - Hostages start running. The attackers fire at them to try to block their escape, prompting the troops outside to shoot back.
See how it happened
There is still confusion over what caused an explosion in the school that prompted special forces to attack, in an operation which Russia says was unplanned but needed to save the lives of the hostages.
There were scenes of pandemonium, as children ran terrified and half-naked amid intense gunbattles out of the school, grabbing water bottles from medics.
News agencies said 646 people, 227 of them children, were taken to hospital during the day.
Officials had put the number of hostages at 354 before some women and children were set free on Thursday, but an aide to President Vladimir Putin said up to 1,200 could have been held in the school sports hall, apparently with bombs all around them.
Aslanbek Aslakhanov, who travelled to the region, said the death toll would be considerably higher than 150. About 80 of the dead have been identified.
As the battles continued throughout the day, there were reports that some of the hostage-takers, though to be Chechen separatists, had escaped into the town.
But shortly before the operation at the school was declared over at about 1840 GMT, a senior army general, Viktor Sobolev, said: "Almost all of the bandits were killed and several have been arrested.
"It is unlikely that any got away."
Reports said three guerrillas were arrested alive. Twenty others died in exchanges of fire with troops, at least nine of them Arabs, officials said.
'Grim reminder'
Correspondents say the day's events have taken Moscow by surprise.
Relatives were running around screaming and crying
Eyewitness: Chaos in battle
The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley in the Russian capital says there has been a wall of silence from President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Meanwhile, US President George W Bush described the events as "another grim reminder" of terrorism.
"We stand with the people of Russia, we send them our thoughts and prayers in this terrible situation," he said.
Correspondents say many of those released were desperate for water when they came out, and some were barely able to stand.
Click below for a detailed map of Beslan
Enlarge Map
One boy described his escape.
"I smashed the window to get out," he told Russian TV. "People were running in all directions... [The rebels] shot from the roof."
Ambulances ferried hundreds of people to hospital.
Witnesses later saw at least 100 bodies piled inside the ruins of the school.
The attackers - both men and women, some wearing bomb belts - struck on Wednesday, the start of the new school year in Russia when families traditionally stay with the pupils for a festive day.
They demanded independence for the troubled region of Chechnya, where Russian forces have been involved in a bloody conflict with separatists for several years.
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