Russian forces reportedly seize control of school At least 5 children reported dead, dozens hurt amid chaotic scene BESLAN, Russia - Commandos seized control of a school in southern Russia where militants held hundreds of hostages Friday, Russian news agencies reported. The assault came after explosions boomed from the area and dozens of hostages, including naked children, fled amid gunfire. A Russian news report said at least five children had been killed, while regional emergency officials said 250 hostages had been wounded, including 180 children. Several of the militants who had captured the building were seen running away and firing indiscriminately. ITAR-Tass said five militants were killed but 13 others escaped. Separately, the Interfax news agency said all the hostages have been evacuated from the school gymnasium where they were held since Wednesday. The assault came after about 30 women and children hostages fled the building. Some children were covered in blood, some of them carried away to a temporary hospital set up behind an armored personnel carrier. "Those children who remained in the school, in general, were not hurt," said a security official quoted by ITAR-Tass. "The ones who suffered were the children in the group which ran from the school and on whom the fighters opened fire." Many were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium where they had been held since the militants took the building, and drank eagerly from bottles of water given to them once they reached safety. The firing subsided after about 45 minutes, but then kicked up again later. ITAR-Tass said the soldiers blew a hole in the building to help with the raid and other reports said some of the raiders had escaped, possibly taking children with them, and were fleeing Beslan. The Interfax news agency reported earlier that the school's roof had collapsed -- possibly from the explosives some militants had strapped to their bodies. After seizing the school, the militants reportedly threatened to blow it up if troops tried to rescue the hostages and warned they would kill prisoners if any of their gang was hurt. On Thursday, the militants had freed about 26 hostages, all women and children, and Russian officials had been in negotiations with the militants since the standoff began. There were conflicting reports of the number of hostages who had been taken, with official saying about 350 and people among a small group freed on Wednesday saying there were about 1,500. Militants' identities, demands unclear The militants' demands had not been clear. Reports after the standoff began Wednesday said the attackers demanded the release of people jailed after attacks on police posts in June that killed more than 90 people in Ingushetia, a region between North Ossetia and the neighboring republic of Chechnya. However, officials said Thursday that the hostage-takers had not clearly formulated their demands. After negotiations that ran through the night and into Thursday, Alan Doyev, a spokesman for the North Ossetia Interior Ministry, said that "so far we have not heard the terrorists' clearly formulated demands." Authorities estimated 15 to 24 militants held the school. The militants' identity was also murky. Lev Dzugayev, a North Ossetian official, said the attackers might be from Chechnya or Ingushetia. Law enforcement sources in North Ossetia and Ingushetia, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attackers were believed to include Chechens, Ingush, Russians and a North Ossetian suspected of participating in the Ingushetia violence. Chechen rebels wage series of attacks Russia was on edge following the nearly simultaneous bombings on two jetliners last week, a suicide bombing in Moscow on Tuesday and the school siege. The upsurge in violence has been a blow to Putin, who pledged five years ago to crush Chechnya's rebels but instead has seen the insurgents increasingly strike civilian targets beyond the republic's borders. Two major hostage-taking raids by Chechen rebels outside the war-torn region in the past decade prompted forceful Russian rescue operations that led to many deaths. The most recent, the seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002, ended after a knockout gas was pumped into the building, debilitating the captors but causing almost all of the 129 hostage deaths. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5881958/ How the hell could any of them escape? Didn't they have this place surrounded? Jesus, and they may have kidnapped some children as well. All of these f*ckers should have been killed or captured. I can't believe most of them got away.
They remind me more of the IRA then Al Queda, though I think the IRA had more to do with religion than the Chechnyans. Maybe I need to do more research, but I don't think they've called a Jihad on Russia.
Looks like it is nearly over now and its not good. They are predicting over 100 dead so far. The numbers of captives appear to be much closer to the original reports. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5881958/?GT1=5100
Sick people.... The muslim faith needs a Martin Luther King. Someone who preaches peace over violence. DD
With your way of thinking, then the south should rise again!!! You are intellectually challenged and rhetorically flawed, there is no defending the actions of the Chechen Rebels.
I'm sure Allah told them to go take over that school and kill the kids. Even if Allah didnt, they had a good intent in their heart so they get to to go heaven with their 72 virgins. But all of this is ok because Islam is going through a bad stretch right now just like the Christians. Or maybe its ok because most of the people that practice Islam are illiterate and dumb. They dont know any better. Or maybe they are just a bunch of disgusting murderers and going to hell is too good for them.
Man, storming the school with guns blazing. The Russkies sure do things differently than we do in these types of situations. Not sure if that was the right approach...
I think they had to react when a group of people tried to escape and the terrorists started firing at these people. What are you going to do, just let them shoot the people running away in the back? You have to fire back at them and do something in order to protect those who were trying to flee...
I'll say it. Why does it matter? So you can lump them in with Al Queda? These acts of terrorism has nothing to do with each other. Terrorism does not equal Muslim, nor does it equal Middle East. I don't understand you point. From what I've read, these terrorist are not waging a religious war. they are waging a war for independence. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/03/chechnya.background/index.html I do not condone or agree with the tactics that are being implemented. Holding children hostage is pure evil. You and DD keeping hammering at the Muslim religion when you should know good and well that acts of the few do not represent the whole.
"Are there links between Chechen groups and al-Qaeda? Yes. Experts say there are reportedly several ties, including those between The late Chechen warlord Khattab, a Jordanian-born fighter who was killed in Chechnya in April 2002, and Osama bin Laden. Khattab apparently first met bin Laden while both men were fighting the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, said shortly after September 11, “We have long recognized that Osama bin Laden and other international networks have been fueling the flames in Chechnya, including the involvement of foreign commanders like Khattab.” Individuals connected to the September 11 attacks and Chechnya. A Moroccan man charged with abetting the hijackers told a German court in October 2002 that the plot’s ringleader, Muhammad Atta, initially planned to join the fight in Chechnya. Zacarias Moussaoui, whom U.S. authorities have charged with being the “20th hijacker” in the September 11 attacks, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be formerly “a recruiter for al-Qaeda-backed rebels in Chechnya.” Chechen militants reportedly fought alongside al-Qaeda and Taliban forces against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was one of the only governments to recognize Chechen independence." "Is the Chechens’ struggle an issue in the Muslim world? Yes. Popular support for the Chechen cause among Muslims is widespread. The influential Arabic satellite news network al-Jazeera frequently broadcasts reports of Russian abuses, often accompanied by graphic footage of dead or wounded Chechen civilians."
How do you then explain that a lot of the kidnappers/terrorists in this horrible massacre against women and children were arabs/muslims? Not all of these guys were even from Chechnya. Valery Andreyev, the top FSB official in the region, said 20 militants were killed, including 10 Arabs. The Arab presence among the attackers would support President Vladimir Putin's contention that al-Qaida terrorists were involved in the Chechen conflict. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/09/03/300.html I am totally with HayesStreet and DaDakota on this one. If there could be any doubt that they are right, it should be gone now.
How could any of the terrorists escape? The same thing happened not so long ago in Saudi Arabia. You would think the area would be totally locked down. Escaping from this kind of situation should be something that happens only in Hollywood. It's difficult for me to understand that level of incompetence. What a horrible tragedy.
13 terrorists escaped . . Bad example, should not happen Just the army paid too much attention on rescuing hostages?
Let's just call it as it is. We have a worldwide war against an extremist form of Islam - not against Islam as a whole but against a group whose supporters, active ones or ones that somehow try to justify what they do, are more than just a few - and they stop at NOTHING. These people are the incarnation of evil. There cannot be ANY - I repeat - there cannot be ANY justification for a killing of children as they did it there.
I believe it's dangerous to group Chechen rebels along with Al Qaeda (not that they are both not horrible organizations, they are) if only for the fact that it will drive them ever closer together. Chechen rebels are far more experienced, battle hardened, and capable than your average Al Qaeda operative (intelligence reports indicate that they have a sophisticated level of technological expertise -- supposedly they can even hijack satellites via computer) because of years of experience and different motivations. Rather than consisting of disenchanted sons disaffected by the west and dreaming of 72 virgins, these people were bascially born into war and focus their entire lives around it. The Chechens have been battling the Russians since the 19th century. Their struggle is as much a nationalistic one as it is a religious one, and they have defined, localized goals: independence for Chechnya. They are undoubtedly committed to that goal and are ready to give anything to get it. (much like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka). This has allowed them to focus better and become more effective and deadly in their operations. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, lacks this kind of focus, since their defining goal, if they even have one, is the moronic pipe dream of a resurrected global caliphate, which even its members realize is idiotic, and hence the sporadic nature of its activities. I just hope they don't learn too much from the Chechens.
Well, how much closer can it get than having a joint group kill hundreds of children together? If they realized that it is idiotic, they would not pursue it...I think that's a bit of a contradiction.
