Posted on 09/03/2004 10:04:07 AM PDT by ezfindit
Russians Storm School; 150 May Be Dead By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer
BESLAN, Russia - Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding 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 toward nightfall, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Ten militants were killed in the violence, including nine Arabs, an aide to President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) 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.
The chaotic climax to the hostage standoff began when explosions collapsed part of the school roof and gunfire erupted from inside the building where the militants, some with explosives strapped to their bodies, stormed the school Wednesday moring.
The militants — demanding independence for nearby Chechnya — kept the hostages, mostly women and children, in the sweltering gymnasium, refusing to let in food or water.
"They didn't let me go to the toilet for three days, not once. They never let me drink or go to the toilet," Teimuraz, the escaped hostage told APTN.
After the hostage-takers fled, more than 100 bodies were found in the gymnasium, some apparently killed when part of the school's roof collapsed in the explosion that prompted the Russian security forces to move in.
A Putin aide said the total death toll could be singificantly more than 150 people. An estimated 520 people were wounded, health officials said. The regional health minister earlier reported that at least 218 children were wounded.
Aslanbek Aslakhanov, Putin's top aide on Chechnya, said security forces did not plan to storm the building, but were prompted to move when the hostage-takers set off explosions early Friday afternoon. Witnesses said the militants opened fire on fleeing hostages and then began to escape themselves.
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.
Huge columns of smoke rose from the school. Windows were shattered, part of roof was gone and another part was 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."
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 before the main assault began.
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. ...
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.
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. Negotiators said the hostage-takers had repeatedly refused offers of food and water througout the standoff.
"They are very cruel people, we are facing a ruthless enemy," said Leonid Roshal, a pediatrician involved in the negotiations. "I talked with them many times on my cell phone, but every time I ask to give food, water and medicine to the hostages they refuse my request."
If you they take out your their own trash, we wont' have to.
...and you can spare the children
The price a country pays for not getting the terrorist before they get you. This could of been the U.S. if Gore would of won.
"In most every conflict, there's a right side and a wrong side. The truth does not lie somewhere in the middle.
The Muslim terrorists are the wrong side."
Unless you are a Muslim terrorist like alberuni, then it is the right side.
You could tell that he was a muzzie because of his bloodthirsty support for muzzie terrorists. Islam is a death cult.
Funny how the muzzies have to go back to 1048 to find anyone who could be considered a scholar. They have given nothing to world civilization except for death, hate and perversion.
Terrorism has not Killed thousands of people.
Terrorism has Killed millions of people, and they want to kill more.
You meerely want to split hairs about what you consider a terrorist act.
The problem with Islam aside from all the other obvious ones is that a vast number of Moslems that are not directly involved in terrorism support it by doing nothing. They do not condemn it. They dance in the streets and celebrate atrocities.
If a Christian bombs an abortion clinic , all Christianity rises up and denounces it.
If a Jew shoots up a mosque then all Jews stand up and denounce it.
If a Moslem brutally slaughters innocent children, Many Moslems dance in the streets, but most close their doors and pretend not to see it. The mullah's preach bloody slaughter from the pulpits and pretend that Islam is a religion of Peace.
Islam is a death cult.
What's going to happen when we capture or kill Bin Laden? Are you going to blow yourself up in a shopping mall or something?
Send a letter of sympathy and condolences to Putin. Thanks for posting the link.
The thousands of Islamic terrorist attacks that have taken place over the last 30 years show that the muslims believe what is written above. It's about time the West acted accordingly to win this war.
BTW, as you know, "Islam" doesn't mean "peace", it means "submission". Putatively, it means submission to Allah, but since we all know that on this earth, men "interpret" the will of God, it means that Islamic fascists want us to submit to them.
Ah yesss the islamist apologist de jour.
I would say that the russians did not kill enough chechnyans. nor did they get the leadership. had they done so, it would have terminated the chechnyan problem.
the real leadership for worldwide islamism is in mecca.
and can be dealt with directly.
I suspect it will too. perhaps by the Russians.
And if 1.2 billion rise up to kill us infidels?
I think that question has already been answered.
Our response will be eviscerating.
hope your allah has kevlar,
because his followers apparently don't.
Islam, The Religion of Peace™
Islam, The Cult of Death™
Who's Astonished Now????
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| Astonished | J Harris | Lematha | sawgrass |
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| Passin Pilgrim | LeeAnn6 | tynker | Kudzu Flat |
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| Samaritan | Patria One | beecharmer | Miss Pixie |
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| necho6 | glassheart3 | Friend_Or_Foe | Kirkland Junction |
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| nohorse | faintpraise | FlaLawyer | Sumayya |
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| alberuni | TBD | TBD | TBD |
EXACTLY!
Look at Iraq. It's the exact SAME STORY with a different group of innocents. In Iraq, Islamic Radicals kill innocent Islamic women and children just to "resist" the liberation and democracy. I have yet to see one demonstration about this slaughter and horror in ANY Islamic country!!!
Where is the outrage? Where is the condemnation? Where are the courageous Muslem leaders taking the high road and standing up for truth and innocence? They're too busy blaming the US for all their murderous scum!
Islam is indeed a death cult!
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