Russia in shock as siege ends

[ssaloon]

Report: More than 200 dead after troops storm school
Three hostage-takers reportedly being interrogated; 27 killed
Saturday, September 4, 2004 Posted: 0021 GMT (0821 HKT)

BESLAN, Russia (CNN) -- The operation to end the school hostage crisis in Russia is over, an emergency official said late Friday, but more than 200 people have died.

The Interfax news agency, quoting Russian health officials, reported the death toll.

As rain fell in Beslan, soldiers began deactivating explosives that had been placed in the school. No gunfire was heard, but there were large explosions in the evening that appeared to be part of the de-mining operation.

Reports said as many as 1,200 hostages might have been inside the school and that 70 percent of them were children. Earlier reports had placed the number of hostages at a few hundred.

A news report said three hostage-takers have been arrested and are being interrogated. Russian forces killed 27 hostage takers, Interfax quoted officials as saying.

Valery Andreyev, head of the local branch of the FSB intelligence service, said 10 of the dead hostage-takers were from Arab countries, after Russian troops stormed the school earlier Friday. (Map of school)

Until now, the rebels were all thought to have been residents of the restive Republic of Chechnya or other parts of the Russian Caucasus.

One witness told a reporter that a hostage-taker had set off a suicide bomb in a gymnasium full of children.

Near the scene, news footage showed bodies of children on stretchers.

One woman leaned down to a young boy, hugging and caressing the youth, who shared a stretcher with a body. Other women stood, holding their hands to their mouths and weeping.

Andreyev said 400 people had been freed as commandos stormed the school, with many of the hostages wounded.

The standoff began Wednesday morning when armed militants took hundreds of children, parents and teachers hostage on the first day of school in Beslan, located in North Ossetia, near Chechnya, where rebels have been fighting Russia and demanding independence for the Muslim-majority republic.

Raid wasn't planned
An FSB official told Russian media that troops had been ready for a long siege.

However, the forces stormed the building around midday after Russian officials, under a cease-fire agreement with militants, tried to collect bodies lying outside the building.

There was an explosion, scores of hostages fled, and hostage-takers opened fire on the children and rescue workers. One of the workers was killed and another was wounded.

Russian troops then opened fire at the rebels, and the battle began.

Russian forces blasted holes in a building of the school to create passages through which hostages could escape and soldiers could enter.

During the assault, a Russian soldier and a news cameraman were wounded by gunfire.

Interfax quoted a Defense official as saying that "the terrorists planted a lot of mines and booby-traps filled with metal bolts in the gym" where hostages were held.

Children who survived said they were denied food and water and had to take off their clothes because of the heat. Some boys said that because they had no water, they had to drink their own urine.

The standoff followed a bloody week in Russia, in which a female suicide bomber killed nine people outside a Moscow subway station Tuesday and two airliners were downed by two suspected Chechen female suicide bombers on August 24, killing all 89 on board.

Russian officials have said the new wave of attacks is an attempt at revenge for last weekend's elections in Chechnya, in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.

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grabe kawawa, puro bata. mga hayop talaga yung may pakana nito.... :fire:

[boydapa]

ilan days ko na sinubaybayan yan. kaso nasa last portion lagi ng local news grabe talaga---siguro di mabenta kaya ayaw i headline. biruin mo 200 patay . nag ala rambo siguro yun nasa loob

[badkuk]

umuwi ako from ot last night...pag flip ko ng bbc, un ung sumalubong sa akin sa balita...nakaka badtrip lalo

reports would suggest that the initial explosions may have been accidental, or a case of miscommunication between the army and hostage takers. ang hindi ko lang maintindihan, reports say that the russian army *blew a hole* into the wall were the hostages were, para mas maraming makatakas. sana naman walang namatay dahil dun

the whole scene at the siege was eerily similar to the past coup attempts we've had; daming civilians na nagtatambay malapit o dun mismo sa school. some brought their own weapons and joined the siege, others rushed into the school to retrieve the hostages.

the army was doing their best at the time, pero ang pangit ng planning nila; no cordoning of the area, no snipers, not even emergency facilities for the wounded

[tagalnasaabroad]

ganyan talaga mangyayari pag ang issue is territorial separatisms gaya ng chechnya..

panahon ni boris yeltsin mas maraming casualties, dagdagan pa pag nakarami na ng inom ng paborito nyang vodka..tapos naging hardline na ang stance ng russia kasi me tumatawid na oil pipeline across chechnya at gusto lang nilang ma-secure..

me mga arab nationals among those killed on the side of the miltants..this is expected as the rebels were getting trained arab terrorists ever since in their struggle for self-rule against a powerful nation like russia..

sabi ni jill dougherty (hirap e-spell surname) , cnn moscow bureau chief more of this kind of attack are expected and the militants are just like a wounded bull getting meaner after the chaos & tragedy at beslan school seige..

[glntVR]

grabe talaga yung nangyari! dami sobra ang namatay at na injury diyan.

[kiper]

grabe badtrip nga yan..daming namatay damay pa mga inosenteng school children.

[empy]

i read about that story yesterday - it's simply incomprehensible.

they are still not releasing details of how it started or what triggered the massacre beyond some vague talk about 'explosions'. pero tama si badkuk, pangit talaga yung preparation ng police/army.

these chechens are really fanatic - no holds barred talaga.

according to msnbc, the death toll is up to 322, including 155 children.

[caloyski5]

sad..da*n those hostage takers!

[konde]

death toll tops 350! walang mga kunsensya mga yun! bakit mga bata?

[27th_Faktory]

kawawa yun mga bata sila pa yun dinamay

[RedHorse]

gising pa ako noon ng mag-flash sa CNN ang nangyari...

palpak na yata kanilang KGB (parang defunct na yata?) .. sunod sunod na ito ah

[gretzy]

1/3 are kids!

[pajerokid]

those hostage takers should be shot in public! :mad:

[mazdamazda]

the russians blew a hole in the wall to let the hostages escape, as they believed that the other obvious exit points were mined.

reports indicated that the terrorists were shooting at the children from the ceiling of the building after the explosion occurred.

i still don't get it with this terrorists... Russia already gave Chechnya an autonomous status and they even have their own election.

[badkuk]

mazdamazda:i still don't get it with this terrorists... Russia already gave Chechnya an autonomous status and they even have their own election.

AFAIK nanalo ata ung manok ni Putin sa latest elections. plus medyo brutal ung Russian army(just read some of the articles on Time) during the Chechen wars, so the hate runs real deep. i'm not justifying their actions btw

wildthing, oks lang ba ipahasa uli ung mga Zwilling/Henckel knives? di naman masisira?

[baiskee]

kakaawa yung mga bata. dapat yan ang pugutan ng ulo ng mga iraqui.:mad:

[stinkaboy]

kawawa yung mga bata...

[empy]

here's an account of the aftermath from the washington post via msnbc.com

depressing

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5926360/

[kuroy]

bagong labas na footage sa CNN ...nasa loob pala ng gymn ang mga mokong habang ang mga bata ay nakamasid...kakaawa talaga.

may naintercept na walkie talkie calls ang mga russians...sabi ba naman daw...

hostage taker#1 "what was that noise?"
hostage taker#2 "i just shot some kids because I'm bored"

matitindi talaga ang mga to...walang awa.....ang namatay yata ay nasa 300 plus na halos kalahati daw ay mga bata..