Joesoef
03-09-04, 10:27
Explosions and Shooting at Russian School Siege
Fri Sep 3, 2004 05:23 AM ET
By Richard Ayton
BESLAN, Russia (Reuters) - Explosions resounded and automatic fire broke out on Friday near the Russian school where hundreds of children and adults were being held by an armed group, a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.
Russian news agencies said a group of hostages had escaped, and the correspondent saw soldiers carrying children away from the school.
A few hours earlier, Russia had insisted it would not resort to force to free hundreds of children, parents and teachers being held for a third day without food or water by gunmen demanding independence for rebel Chechnya.
Officials said some 500 people were being held in the school in North Ossetia, near Chechnya, but released hostages said the number could be nearer 1,500, lying on top of each other in increasingly desperate conditions.
Alexander Dzasokhov, president of the province of North Ossetia, said the 40 or so masked gunmen were demanding an independent Chechnya, the first clear link between them and the decade-long separatist rebellion in the neighboring province.
But he tried to reassure hundreds of fraught parents who spent the night near the school in the town of Beslan, telling reporters: "I tell you frankly and honestly ... the option of force is not being considered."
Reports from some of the women and children released on Thursday painted a grim picture.
"You know, there aren't 350 people (the previous official number) in there, but 1,500 in all. People are lying one on top of another," Zalina Dzandarova, a 27-year-old woman, told the daily Kommersant.
One unnamed woman freed on Thursday told Izvestia that during the night children occasionally began to cry:
"Then the fighters would fire in the air to restore quiet. In the morning they told us they would not give us anything more to drink because the authorities were not ready to negotiate.
"When children went to the toilet, some tried to drink from the tap. The fighters stopped them straight away."
Dzasokhov said the captors had made their demands in talks on Thursday with Ruslan Aushev, a moderate former leader of nearby Ingushetia province, who has taken on a mediating role.
"The demands relayed to Aushev yesterday ... were that Chechnya must be an independent state," he said.
WAVE OF ATTACKS
The school siege is the latest in a wave of violent attacks in Russia in recent weeks, all linked to Chechen separatists.
Last week, suicide bombers were blamed for the near-simultaneous crash of two passenger planes in which 90 people died. And this week, in central Moscow another suicide bomber blew herself up, killing nine people.
Russian media have speculated that the gunmen could belong to separatist forces under field commander Magomed Yevloyev, an Ingush who is believed to have led a mass assault on Ingushetia in June.
With the clock ticking for President Vladimir Putin to end the crisis, security experts warned of a possible bloody end.
Putin, who came to power in 2000 vowing to "wipe out" Chechen militants, pledged to do all he could to save the hostages.
But he has refused any suggestion of a compromise on Chechnya remaining part of Russia. Previous ends to hostage crises have ended in huge loss of life.
Izvestia said 860 pupils attended School No.1 in Beslan. But the number of people on the campus would have been swollen by parents and relatives attending the first-day ceremony traditional in Russian schools.
Up to 16 people are believed to have been killed in the early stages of the assault.
Dzandarova said the masked gang struck at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, shooting into the air.
"Everybody, parents and children, ran in panic into the school building," she said, adding that the attackers killed people left in the school yard and those who resisted.
Two women assailants blew themselves up in a corridor, killing a number of male hostages. Hostages were later herded into the school gym, where the captors booby-trapped the basketball hoops, an unidentified mother told Izvestiya.
Dzandarova added: "They took some of the injured out of the gym and finished them off right there in the corridor."
The unnamed mother said the captors were well organized: "None of the terrorists removed their masks. Nobody can see their faces. They aren't tired. They are resting in turns."
(Additional reporting by Oliver Bullough)
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© Copyright Reuters 2004
Hevig vuurgevecht bij Russische school
Uitgegeven: 3 september 2004 11:22
Laatst gewijzigd: 3 september 2004 11:35
BESLAN - Uit de school in het Zuid-Russische Beslan zijn vrijdag een onbekend aantal gijzelaars gevlucht. Dat meldden Russische persbureaus. Bij de school wordt al bijna een half uur hevig geschoten en waren kort daarvoor twee luide explosies te horen.
Russische militairen dragen kinderen uit de school. Volgens de BBC gaat het om dertig ontsnapte kinderen. Ook berichtten getuigen dat mensen uit de school vluchtten, terwijl kogels over hun hoofd scheerden. Onduidelijk is of het leger een bevrijdingsactie is begonnen.
In de school worden honderden volwassenen en kinderen vastgehouden door een groep gewapende mannen en vrouwen. Zij eisen onafhankelijkheid voor de Russische opstandige deelrepubliek Tsjetsjenië.
ook cnn/ bbc worldservice, de beelden zijn echt niet te geloven......
Fri Sep 3, 2004 05:23 AM ET
By Richard Ayton
BESLAN, Russia (Reuters) - Explosions resounded and automatic fire broke out on Friday near the Russian school where hundreds of children and adults were being held by an armed group, a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.
Russian news agencies said a group of hostages had escaped, and the correspondent saw soldiers carrying children away from the school.
A few hours earlier, Russia had insisted it would not resort to force to free hundreds of children, parents and teachers being held for a third day without food or water by gunmen demanding independence for rebel Chechnya.
Officials said some 500 people were being held in the school in North Ossetia, near Chechnya, but released hostages said the number could be nearer 1,500, lying on top of each other in increasingly desperate conditions.
Alexander Dzasokhov, president of the province of North Ossetia, said the 40 or so masked gunmen were demanding an independent Chechnya, the first clear link between them and the decade-long separatist rebellion in the neighboring province.
But he tried to reassure hundreds of fraught parents who spent the night near the school in the town of Beslan, telling reporters: "I tell you frankly and honestly ... the option of force is not being considered."
Reports from some of the women and children released on Thursday painted a grim picture.
"You know, there aren't 350 people (the previous official number) in there, but 1,500 in all. People are lying one on top of another," Zalina Dzandarova, a 27-year-old woman, told the daily Kommersant.
One unnamed woman freed on Thursday told Izvestia that during the night children occasionally began to cry:
"Then the fighters would fire in the air to restore quiet. In the morning they told us they would not give us anything more to drink because the authorities were not ready to negotiate.
"When children went to the toilet, some tried to drink from the tap. The fighters stopped them straight away."
Dzasokhov said the captors had made their demands in talks on Thursday with Ruslan Aushev, a moderate former leader of nearby Ingushetia province, who has taken on a mediating role.
"The demands relayed to Aushev yesterday ... were that Chechnya must be an independent state," he said.
WAVE OF ATTACKS
The school siege is the latest in a wave of violent attacks in Russia in recent weeks, all linked to Chechen separatists.
Last week, suicide bombers were blamed for the near-simultaneous crash of two passenger planes in which 90 people died. And this week, in central Moscow another suicide bomber blew herself up, killing nine people.
Russian media have speculated that the gunmen could belong to separatist forces under field commander Magomed Yevloyev, an Ingush who is believed to have led a mass assault on Ingushetia in June.
With the clock ticking for President Vladimir Putin to end the crisis, security experts warned of a possible bloody end.
Putin, who came to power in 2000 vowing to "wipe out" Chechen militants, pledged to do all he could to save the hostages.
But he has refused any suggestion of a compromise on Chechnya remaining part of Russia. Previous ends to hostage crises have ended in huge loss of life.
Izvestia said 860 pupils attended School No.1 in Beslan. But the number of people on the campus would have been swollen by parents and relatives attending the first-day ceremony traditional in Russian schools.
Up to 16 people are believed to have been killed in the early stages of the assault.
Dzandarova said the masked gang struck at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, shooting into the air.
"Everybody, parents and children, ran in panic into the school building," she said, adding that the attackers killed people left in the school yard and those who resisted.
Two women assailants blew themselves up in a corridor, killing a number of male hostages. Hostages were later herded into the school gym, where the captors booby-trapped the basketball hoops, an unidentified mother told Izvestiya.
Dzandarova added: "They took some of the injured out of the gym and finished them off right there in the corridor."
The unnamed mother said the captors were well organized: "None of the terrorists removed their masks. Nobody can see their faces. They aren't tired. They are resting in turns."
(Additional reporting by Oliver Bullough)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright Reuters 2004
Hevig vuurgevecht bij Russische school
Uitgegeven: 3 september 2004 11:22
Laatst gewijzigd: 3 september 2004 11:35
BESLAN - Uit de school in het Zuid-Russische Beslan zijn vrijdag een onbekend aantal gijzelaars gevlucht. Dat meldden Russische persbureaus. Bij de school wordt al bijna een half uur hevig geschoten en waren kort daarvoor twee luide explosies te horen.
Russische militairen dragen kinderen uit de school. Volgens de BBC gaat het om dertig ontsnapte kinderen. Ook berichtten getuigen dat mensen uit de school vluchtten, terwijl kogels over hun hoofd scheerden. Onduidelijk is of het leger een bevrijdingsactie is begonnen.
In de school worden honderden volwassenen en kinderen vastgehouden door een groep gewapende mannen en vrouwen. Zij eisen onafhankelijkheid voor de Russische opstandige deelrepubliek Tsjetsjenië.
ook cnn/ bbc worldservice, de beelden zijn echt niet te geloven......