In a school, on the first day of classes. As many as 200 hostages are children.
Good gosh, what's with all the recent Chechen attacks? Two planes last week, a female suicide bomber yesterday, and now this.
I pray it ends well.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131060,00.html
Breaking News - 400 taken hostage by Chechens
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Four people were killed as armed attackers stormed a school in southern Russia 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 class. The attackers issued demands to Russian authorities and threatened to kill the children.
The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said four people were killed and nine others wounded in the attack, which took place at about 9 a.m. (1 a.m. ET).
Interfax news agency said there was 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.
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 explosives belts used in suicide bombings.
There were several conflicting reports. According to one, the attackers released at least 12 children; but according to another, Russian officials denied the release and said 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 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.
Interfax said the doctor was on his way to Beslan.
Video of the scene from Russian television showed Russian forces stationed near the school, some of them behind a tank, as the sound of gunfire could be 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 located 19 miles (30 km) north of Vladikavkaz in southern Russia, which borders the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
Russia said the U.N. Security Council will meet at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday to discuss "terrorist acts." A spokesman for the Russian Mission to the United Nations told CNN the council will meet in consultations first and then decide what action is to be taken.
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)
Authorities did not immediately say if the female bomber was Chechen.
The bombing marked the second major terrorist attack on Russia in a week, following near-simultaneous attacks on two Russian airliners by what authorities believe were two Chechen women suicide bombers. Eighty-nine people died in the crashes on August 24. (Full story)
For the second time in a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted his working holiday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and returned to Moscow.
In an interview with CNN sister network CNN Turk, Putin on Wednesday 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 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.
Chechen rebels -- who refused to take part in Chechen elections held Sunday and vowed to take their fight to Russian soil -- have denied responsibility.
But many Russian politicians are already linking them to Tuesday's suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the elections in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.
Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas in Chechnya since 1994.
Female Chechen suicide bombers are known in Russia as "black widows." (Full story)
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 that Wednesday's 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."
Children, parents and teachers were herded into the school as they gathered for a ceremony marking the first day of class. The attackers issued demands to Russian authorities and threatened to kill the children.
The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said four people were killed and nine others wounded in the attack, which took place at about 9 a.m. (1 a.m. ET).
Interfax news agency said there was 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.
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 explosives belts used in suicide bombings.
There were several conflicting reports. According to one, the attackers released at least 12 children; but according to another, Russian officials denied the release and said 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 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.
Interfax said the doctor was on his way to Beslan.
Video of the scene from Russian television showed Russian forces stationed near the school, some of them behind a tank, as the sound of gunfire could be 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 located 19 miles (30 km) north of Vladikavkaz in southern Russia, which borders the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
Russia said the U.N. Security Council will meet at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday to discuss "terrorist acts." A spokesman for the Russian Mission to the United Nations told CNN the council will meet in consultations first and then decide what action is to be taken.
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)
Authorities did not immediately say if the female bomber was Chechen.
The bombing marked the second major terrorist attack on Russia in a week, following near-simultaneous attacks on two Russian airliners by what authorities believe were two Chechen women suicide bombers. Eighty-nine people died in the crashes on August 24. (Full story)
For the second time in a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted his working holiday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and returned to Moscow.
In an interview with CNN sister network CNN Turk, Putin on Wednesday 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 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.
Chechen rebels -- who refused to take part in Chechen elections held Sunday and vowed to take their fight to Russian soil -- have denied responsibility.
But many Russian politicians are already linking them to Tuesday's suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the elections in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.
Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas in Chechnya since 1994.
Female Chechen suicide bombers are known in Russia as "black widows." (Full story)
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 that Wednesday's 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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An italian journalist on site witnesses of 200/300 deads, many of them are kids...
source: http://www.repubblica.it
source: http://www.repubblica.it
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