Frank Riley
09-03-2004, 12:42 PM
More than 100 killed in Russian school siege
Hundreds wounded after 3-day showdown erupts in a bloody climax
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 12:50 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2004BESLAN, Russia - Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding as many as 1,200 hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. An official said the death toll could be significantly higher than 150.
Three of the separatist rebels were reportedly still blockaded in a school basement, trading fire with security forces. A Federal Security Service official said militants were still holding hostages — children among them.
Hours after much of the school was secured late Friday afternoon, a large explosion erupted from the school towardnightfall, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Twenty militants were killed in the violence, including ten Arabs, an aide to President Vladimir Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency. The Arab presence among the attackers would support Putin's contention that al-Qaida terrorists were involved in the Chechen conflict, where Muslim fighters have been fighting Russian forces in a brutal a war of independence for most of the past decade.
Earlier, Russian media reported that commandos killed five militants but that 13 others had escaped.
A hostage who escaped told Associated Press Television News that the militants numbered 28, including women wearing camouflage uniforms. The hostage, who identified himself only as Teimuraz, said the militants began wiring the school with explosives as soon as they took control.
Russian officials said the violent conclusion was not part of a planned military operation, suggesting the events may have been triggered by the militants inside the school.
Rising toll
Reports from the scene varied on the numbers of hostages killed, although most reports suggested a gruesome toll.
Interfax cited a Russian presidential aide as saying the death toll could be significantly more than 150.
Separately, officials from Russian emergency services in Beslan said the death toll was more than 100 while the head of the Regional Russian Federal Security Service said at least 60 bodies have been identified.
A reporter for Britain's ITV News reported his cameraman saw up to 100 bodies of hostages inside the school's gymnasium, where most of the hostages had been held.
"I was stopped by the Russian soldiers," ITV's Julian Manyon reported. "But our cameraman did manage to get through the door just for a few moments. He told me that in his estimation there are as many as 100 dead bodies, I am afraid, lying on the smouldering floor of the gymnasium where we know that a large number of the hostages were being held."
Interfax said the building's roof had collapsed -- possibly from the explosives some militants had strapped to their bodies -- and that dozens were killed.
An estimated 520 people were wounded, health officials said. The regional health minister earlier reported that at least 218 children were wounded.
Not planned
Russia's security chief said the storming of the school was not a planned operation.
"I want to point out that no military action was planned. We were planning further talks," the regional head of the FSB security service, Valery Andreyev, told RTR television.
His comments gave strength to earlier speculation the violent end to the siege in southern Russia may have been started by the Chechen militants inside the school.
The chaos erupted on the third day of the standoff in Beslan, a town of 30,000 in North Ossetia, a republic near the wartorn region of Chechnya.
North Ossetia’s president, Alexander Dzasokhov, said Friday the militants had demanded independence for Chechnya — the first official word connecting the hostage-taking to the conflict that has fueled Russia’s worst terror attacks.
The violence began after militants had agreed to let Russian officials retrieve the bodies of people killed early in the raid. Explosions went off as the emergency personnel went to get the bodies at around 1 p.m., collapsing part of the roof of the building, and hostages took the noise as a signal to flee, officials said.
Militants opened fire on fleeing hostages and security forces returned fire. Once the hostage-takers sought to escape, Russian officials apparently made the decision to storm the building.
Gunfire rang out for hours as security forces chased hostage-takers, who split into small groups as they fled. Interfax and the ITAR-Tass news agency reported the three militants holed up in the basement may include the head of the group. Another group took refuge in a nearby house where tanks moved in.
The militants had reportedly threatened to blow up the building if authorities tried to storm it, but all indications suggested the explosions began before the assault. Russian officials repeatedly said they were not planning to invade and had earlier won the release of 26 hostages through negotiations.
Half naked
Huge columns of smoke billowed from the school, where windows were shattered, part of roof gone and another part charred. Commandos, residents and journalists scurried around the building and soldiers climbed inside through a lower floor window, all the glass missing.
People ran through the streets, and the wounded were carried off on stretchers. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances speeding by, the windows streaked with blood. Four armed men in civilian clothes ran by, shouting, “A militant ran this way.”
Soldiers and men in civilian clothes carried children — some naked, some clad only in underpants, some covered in blood — to a temporary hospital set up behind an armored personnel carrier. One child had a bandage on her head, others had bandaged limbs. Some women, newly freed from the school, fainted.
The children drank eagerly from bottles of water given to them once they reached safety. Many of the children were naked or only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium.
“I am helping you,” a man dressed in camouflage told a crying girl. Women gathered around, trying to soothe her, saying “It’s all right. It’s all right.”
'Cruel people'
The White House branded the hostage-taking “barbaric” and “despicable” and said responsibility for dozens of lost lives rests with the terrorists. “The United States stands side-by-side with Russia in our global fight against terrorism,” spokesman Scott McClellan said.
President Bush was briefed on developments in Russia Friday morning before a re-election rally in Pennsylvania. He did not talk about the Russian terrorism during his speech.
The hostage-takers’ identities were 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.
Hundreds wounded after 3-day showdown erupts in a bloody climax
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 12:50 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2004BESLAN, Russia - Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding as many as 1,200 hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. An official said the death toll could be significantly higher than 150.
Three of the separatist rebels were reportedly still blockaded in a school basement, trading fire with security forces. A Federal Security Service official said militants were still holding hostages — children among them.
Hours after much of the school was secured late Friday afternoon, a large explosion erupted from the school towardnightfall, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Twenty militants were killed in the violence, including ten Arabs, an aide to President Vladimir Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency. The Arab presence among the attackers would support Putin's contention that al-Qaida terrorists were involved in the Chechen conflict, where Muslim fighters have been fighting Russian forces in a brutal a war of independence for most of the past decade.
Earlier, Russian media reported that commandos killed five militants but that 13 others had escaped.
A hostage who escaped told Associated Press Television News that the militants numbered 28, including women wearing camouflage uniforms. The hostage, who identified himself only as Teimuraz, said the militants began wiring the school with explosives as soon as they took control.
Russian officials said the violent conclusion was not part of a planned military operation, suggesting the events may have been triggered by the militants inside the school.
Rising toll
Reports from the scene varied on the numbers of hostages killed, although most reports suggested a gruesome toll.
Interfax cited a Russian presidential aide as saying the death toll could be significantly more than 150.
Separately, officials from Russian emergency services in Beslan said the death toll was more than 100 while the head of the Regional Russian Federal Security Service said at least 60 bodies have been identified.
A reporter for Britain's ITV News reported his cameraman saw up to 100 bodies of hostages inside the school's gymnasium, where most of the hostages had been held.
"I was stopped by the Russian soldiers," ITV's Julian Manyon reported. "But our cameraman did manage to get through the door just for a few moments. He told me that in his estimation there are as many as 100 dead bodies, I am afraid, lying on the smouldering floor of the gymnasium where we know that a large number of the hostages were being held."
Interfax said the building's roof had collapsed -- possibly from the explosives some militants had strapped to their bodies -- and that dozens were killed.
An estimated 520 people were wounded, health officials said. The regional health minister earlier reported that at least 218 children were wounded.
Not planned
Russia's security chief said the storming of the school was not a planned operation.
"I want to point out that no military action was planned. We were planning further talks," the regional head of the FSB security service, Valery Andreyev, told RTR television.
His comments gave strength to earlier speculation the violent end to the siege in southern Russia may have been started by the Chechen militants inside the school.
The chaos erupted on the third day of the standoff in Beslan, a town of 30,000 in North Ossetia, a republic near the wartorn region of Chechnya.
North Ossetia’s president, Alexander Dzasokhov, said Friday the militants had demanded independence for Chechnya — the first official word connecting the hostage-taking to the conflict that has fueled Russia’s worst terror attacks.
The violence began after militants had agreed to let Russian officials retrieve the bodies of people killed early in the raid. Explosions went off as the emergency personnel went to get the bodies at around 1 p.m., collapsing part of the roof of the building, and hostages took the noise as a signal to flee, officials said.
Militants opened fire on fleeing hostages and security forces returned fire. Once the hostage-takers sought to escape, Russian officials apparently made the decision to storm the building.
Gunfire rang out for hours as security forces chased hostage-takers, who split into small groups as they fled. Interfax and the ITAR-Tass news agency reported the three militants holed up in the basement may include the head of the group. Another group took refuge in a nearby house where tanks moved in.
The militants had reportedly threatened to blow up the building if authorities tried to storm it, but all indications suggested the explosions began before the assault. Russian officials repeatedly said they were not planning to invade and had earlier won the release of 26 hostages through negotiations.
Half naked
Huge columns of smoke billowed from the school, where windows were shattered, part of roof gone and another part charred. Commandos, residents and journalists scurried around the building and soldiers climbed inside through a lower floor window, all the glass missing.
People ran through the streets, and the wounded were carried off on stretchers. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances speeding by, the windows streaked with blood. Four armed men in civilian clothes ran by, shouting, “A militant ran this way.”
Soldiers and men in civilian clothes carried children — some naked, some clad only in underpants, some covered in blood — to a temporary hospital set up behind an armored personnel carrier. One child had a bandage on her head, others had bandaged limbs. Some women, newly freed from the school, fainted.
The children drank eagerly from bottles of water given to them once they reached safety. Many of the children were naked or only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium.
“I am helping you,” a man dressed in camouflage told a crying girl. Women gathered around, trying to soothe her, saying “It’s all right. It’s all right.”
'Cruel people'
The White House branded the hostage-taking “barbaric” and “despicable” and said responsibility for dozens of lost lives rests with the terrorists. “The United States stands side-by-side with Russia in our global fight against terrorism,” spokesman Scott McClellan said.
President Bush was briefed on developments in Russia Friday morning before a re-election rally in Pennsylvania. He did not talk about the Russian terrorism during his speech.
The hostage-takers’ identities were 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.