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Joesoef
23-10-02, 21:37
Gunfire in Moscow theatre siege
Wednesday, October 23, 2002 Posted: 3:19 PM EDT (1919 GMT)



The beseiged theater was formerly the "palace of culture" for a ball-bearing plant

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Gunfire has been heard from a Moscow movie theatre where about 20 armed gunmen are reported to be holding the audience, believed to be about 700 people, hostage.

The gunmen said they were demanding "an end to the war," according to a freed hostage, in the first indication of a link to the Chechen conflict, Interfax news agency reported.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote said five gunshots were heard after the gunmen siezed the building on Wednesday night and said the situation was chaotic.

He said that Russia's elite Alpha Group of crack security troops had surrounded the theatre complex.

He said that two Russian snipers had taken up position behind him and a number of police with dogs had moved into the building

Earlier Interfax, one of whose reporters was in the theatre at the time, said the gunmen had allowed members of the audience to make phone calls and children to be released.

The gunmen fired shots into the air as they entered the theatre. Muslim members of the audience attending the production of "North-East" were also allowed to leave, Interfax said.

The theatre -- "the Palace of Culture" formerly for workers of a ballbearing plant -- was staging a performance of the musical "Nord-Ost," one of the Russian capital's most popular productions. About 40 actors, 35 musicians, 50 staff and an audience of 600 were believed to be inside the hall located in southeastern Moscow in a working class neighbourhood,.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately told of the hostage taking, Interfax reported. Mosow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov went to the theatre.

Chechen rebels kill Russian soldiers and Chechen police on a daily basis with attacks and mine blasts. Most police officers in the southern republic's Moscow-backed government are ethnic Chechens, whom the rebels consider traitors.

Russian forces left Chechnya in 1996 after a disastrous two-year war but returned in 1999 after rebels raided a neighbouring region and Russian authorities blamed rebels for a series of bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people.

The musical "Nord-Ost" is based on Veniamin Kaverin's novel "Two Captains." The romantic novel recounts the story of two students and their different destinies during the Soviet times.

According to the theatre's Web site, more than 350,000 people have seen the production since it opened.