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Topic: Russian Hostage Situation (Read 409 times)

lakelady
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Russian Hostage Situation
« on: Sep 1^st, 2004, 5:48pm »

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Russian troops in standoff with hostage-takers
Unknown group threatens to blow up school with children inside
Wednesday, September 1, 2004 Posted: 6:29 PM EDT (2229 GMT)

A girl runs from the school, holding a soldier's hand.

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Four people were killed as armed attackers stormed a school in southern Russia early Wednesday and took at least 100 people hostage, Russian media said.

Children, parents and teachers were herded into the school as they gathered for a ceremony marking the first day of classes. The attackers issued demands to Russian authorities and threatened to kill the children.

Late in the day, the tense hostage standoff continued with little reported progress.

The Kremlin news agency said President Bush called Russian President Vladimir Putin to offer any assistance that could help secure the release of the hostages.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said four people were killed and nine others wounded in the initial attack, which took place at about 9 a.m. (1 a.m. ET).

Interfax news agency reported shooting at the time of the attack as well as afterward.

Earlier reports indicated as many as nine people may have been killed and 11 wounded, but officials revised the numbers without explanation.

Chechen rebels -- who refused to take part in Chechen elections held Sunday and vowed to take their fight to Russian soil -- have denied responsibility.

Yet many Russian politicians are already linking Chechen separatist guerrillas -- who have fought Russia on and off since 1994 -- to the suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the elections in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.

Russia's defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, said the hostage-taking and other recent attacks marked a declaration of war against Russia.

"It is a different kind of war, where you cannot see your enemy and where there is no front line, but nonetheless this is an entirely real threat," Ivanov told reporters. "Russia is not the only country that faces this new threat."

At least 15 armed attackers rushed the school in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said. Some were reportedly wearing belts of explosives, like those used in suicide bombings.

There were several conflicting reports. According to one, the attackers released at least 12 children; according to another, 14 children had hid in a boiler room during the attack and later escaped.

Interfax reported at least 100 people inside the school with the hostage-takers; Russian state television, however, said the number was as high as 300.

Interfax said the hostage-takers had threatened to kill 50 children for each of their number killed by Russian forces and 20 for each wounded.

Quoting emergency officials, Interfax reported that half of the hostages were children. The students in the primary school range in age from 7 to 17.

The hostage-takers -- most of them women -- reportedly were demanding the release of more than two dozen prisoners picked up during a raid on Chechens in southern Russia in June and that Russia withdraw all of its forces from Chechnya.

The attackers also have reportedly passed on their cell phone numbers and a note with names of people they are prepared to hold talks with, including the leaders of the regions of Ossetia and Ingushetia. as well as a doctor who was involved in negotiations with hostage-takers who seized a Moscow theater in 2002 in the middle of a musical.

Interfax said the doctor was on his way to Beslan.

Russian television video from the scene showed Russian forces stationed near the school, some of them behind a tank, as gunfire was heard.

A young girl and an older woman ran into the camera's view and were led to safety by the armed forces.

Beslan is 19 miles (30 kilometers) north of Vladikavkaz in southern Russia, which borders Chechnya.

Putin blames Chechen rebels
Russia said the U.N. Security Council will meet Wednesday evening to discuss "terrorist acts."

The seizure of the school comes a day after a female suicide bomber killed nine people and herself and wounded 51 others when she detonated a bomb outside a subway station in northeastern Moscow. (Full story)

That bombing was the second major terrorist attack in Russia in a week, following near-simultaneous attacks on two Russian airliners by what authorities believe were two female Chechen suicide bombers. Eighty-nine people died in the crashes August 24. (Full story)

Authorities did not immediately say if the subway bomber was Chechen.

Female Chechen suicide bombers are known in Russia as "black widows." (Full story)

In an interview with CNN sister network CNN Turk, Putin linked the country's recent terror attacks to Chechen rebels and al Qaeda.

"Two civilian planes were crashed by terrorist gangs that had links to the al Qaeda," Putin said, speaking from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

"Separatists in northern Caucasus are acting not in line with the Chechen people, but for their own filthy interests. They have links with international terrorism."

Authorities have said traces of the explosive hexogen were found in the wreckage of both planes. Hexogen, when mixed with nitroglycerin, forms a plastic explosive similar to C4 and has been used by Chechen rebels in attacks on Russian soil in the past.

In October 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theater and took about 800 hostages.

After a three-day siege, Russian forces stormed the building using gas, killing most of the rebels and 120 hostages. (Timeline of attacks)

Sajjan Gohel, Director of International Security at the Asia Pacific Foundation, told CNN on Wednesday that the hostage-taking was a "major escalation" by militants.

"It seems that the militants are raising the stakes substantially. The Chechen militants' strategy is no longer just to engage Russian troops in Chechnya but to take it into Russia itself," he said.

"They have become very successful in that. They have been able to entrench themselves in Russia."

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Rhune
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #1 on: Sep 1^st, 2004, 7:39pm »

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And still no word from my mother-in-law... Cry

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lakelady
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #2 on: Sep 1^st, 2004, 8:32pm »

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I'm sorry Rhune. Sad

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Rupey
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #3 on: Sep 1^st, 2004, 8:33pm »

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Oh, no!

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david
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #4 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 9:24am »

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UPDATE

BESLAN, Russia - Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding hundreds of hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. More than 100 bodies were reportedly found in the gym where hostages had been held.

AP Photo

AP Photo
Slideshow: Terrorists Take Children Hostage, Troops End Standoff

Russian Forces Storm School; 7 Killed
(AP Video)

The extent of the casualties was not immediately known. The militants, who had been demanding independence for nearby Chechnya (news - web sites), had been holding up to 1,500 hostages mostly women and children in the sweltering gymnasium for more than two days.

A cameraman for the British network ITN reported seeing around 100 bodies in the gym. The correspondent for Russia's Interfax news agency reported that there were dozens of bodies in the school, including about 100 in the gym, and that some were killed when the building's roof collapsed from an explosion.

Other casualties were reported when militants opened fire on hostages as they fled the building and in fighting that went on for several hours afterward. More than 400 people were wounded, including at least 180 children.

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luci
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #5 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 10:11am »

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Oh My Rhune, was she in this area of Russia? Keep the faith that she is OK, just not where she can call home. We'll stay positive that all is well.

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Rhune
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #6 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 11:27am »

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We've finally heard from her, she's ok and not near where this is happening, but will have to go to Moscow on the 9th in order to get on her plane to go home, which is right in the heart of where most of this is happening. Sad

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luci
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #7 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 1:14pm »

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Great news Cool

I know you and your husband are so relieved, now to get her home safely.

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Pocket
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #8 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 5:16pm »

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Terrorists! Just another example of hatred run amok.

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luci
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #9 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 8:45pm »

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This afternoon I stayed put long enough to hear all of this story and what is going on. This is horrible. So sad innocent children and adults were killed.

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Sparkysback
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #10 on: Sep 3^rd, 2004, 8:59pm »

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This is very sad news, probably making others remember the time of Sep 11th.
Prayers for the Parents, this should never have happened.

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Dixie
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #11 on: Sep 4^th, 2004, 9:15am »

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340 dead at this point, 155 of them children. There is no justification for this Angry

Rhune, I hope you mother in law gets home ok.

« Last Edit: Sep 4^th, 2004, 9:16am by Dixie »

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JP
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #12 on: Sep 4^th, 2004, 11:04am »

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I just caught this news before I went to work, and it's horrible. I'm really sad about this. How many lives do we need to lose to learn that violence never solves anyone's problems. Cry

I offer my prayers to those who are suffering.

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Rhune
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #13 on: Sep 4^th, 2004, 11:07am »

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In Russia they have this big tradition, where on the first day of school all the women walk the children to the school - the mother, the grandmother's etc. The whole extended family. That's why there were aprox 1200 children and women at this school they took hostage. It was timed to coincide with this tradition to capture & damage the most people...this is like 9/11 only worse becuase it's children... Cry

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david
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Re: Russian Hostage Situation
« Reply #14 on: Sep 4^th, 2004, 12:29pm »

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How sick can you get! these women and children are NOT part of their beef!

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