The Hindu : Front Page : Russian commandos storm school

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

Front Page

Russian commandos storm school

By Vladimir Radyuhin
with Agencies

Relatives grieve over the bodies of children killed by the terrorists. — AP

MOSCOW, SEPT. 3. Commandos today stormed the school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia, where militants strapped with bombs had held hundreds captive for three days. Over a hundred bodies were found in the school gym, where the captors had herded the majority of the hostages. The total number of casualties was yet to be established. Hundreds have been freed.

The assault came when emergency aid workers went to the school to evacuate bodies of hostages under an agreement with the militants. A local security chief said explosions rocked the school building at that moment and dozens of hostages, including children, fled the school building. The militants then opened fire on fleeing people and the commandos fired back and launched the assault. The official said the security forces had no plans to storm the school building and had been forced to act in view of the developments.

Toll may mount

"More than 400 hostages have been set free," officials told the NTV television. Reporters on the spot said the final death count was likely to run into several hundred. The region's Federal Security Service chief, Valery Andreyev, said over 556 people, including 332 children, were hospitalised.

Television showed near-naked school children (it was stifling hot in the building), many of them wounded being led and carried away from the school. Thousands of anguished relatives and friends gathered near the school added to the general chaos at the scene. At some stage of the assault several powerful explosions were heard from the school building, triggering a fire. It was later extinguished. The blasts also caused the roof of the school gym to collapse killing many.

Initially, officials estimated the number of hostages at 354, but later admitted the figure could be three times as high. The school accommodated 890 pupils, and only a handful of them fled when militants attacked it on September 1.

In hot pursuit

Some of the estimated 25 to 30 militants broke out of the school during the operation and troops backed by tanks and helicopters were pursuing them across the town. Hours after the assault began around 1 p.m. (local time), sporadic fire was still cracking on the school grounds as a group of terrorists was holed up in one of the buildings. Another three militants were barricaded in the school cellar, firing at the troops.

A mother and her daughter, who were held hostage in a school in Russia, after their escape on Friday. — AP

Security forces killed 20 gunmen including 10 Arabs, Interfax news agency said. ``There are 10 people originating from the Arab world among 20 killed terrorists,'' it quoted Mr. Andreyev as saying.

Eyewitnesses said a crowd of Beslan residents lynched a suspected terrorist as he was being led away by security forces from the school building. Furious people knocked the man to the ground and beat him to death with boots.

Terrorists' demand

Regional president Alexander Dzasokhov said the hostage-takers had demanded that Russian troops leave Chechnya — the first clear indication of their demands and of a direct link between Wednesday's attack in the region of North Ossetia and the ongoing war in the neighbouring region. Itar-Tass news agency quoted sources in the regional security service as saying Chechen commander Magomet Yevloyev led the hostage-takers. They said the operation had been planned by Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted Chechen rebel, who has been behind several major attacks outside Chechnya.

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