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."
Darn it. Just as it was getting to be interesting. I wanted to see how left he could lean.
And what I am asking is: Why did it work for the Romans, vis a vis Carthage? No survivors left to recruit. If that's what it takes, it is the sandmaggots' choice.
"Indeed, Russian actions in Chechnya are partly responsible for the terrorists' willingness to do this sort of thing in the first place."
Targeting children?
Not even allowing them water?
Burning them alive?
The Muslims have had always willingness to do this, no matter what the Russians or the Americans have done.
In fact, they are willing to send their own children to die to make Israel look bad
By the way, waiting for the outrage in the Islamic world
There won't be any?
ALLAH BE PRAISED!
It would almost make one think that the experts in guerilla warfare are correct: that enemy atrocities against your base population are an excellent recruiting tool.
"Kitties came, ate, left"
Kitty came, tried to eat, got nuked!
I hate to break it to you, but you appear not to understand what Islamic terrorists are doing.
Islamic terror serves a strategic purpose, which is to create a general war between Islam and "infidels." Their technique is to get people like you and publius to lump all of Islam in with the salamikazes, and thus ignite such a war. In the case of some on this thread, it is clear that their strategy is succeeding.
Chechen terrorists are not the same animal as your run-of-the-mill salamikaze. They think they have a legitimate excuse for indiscriminately killing Russians, and it's clear they'd be willing to work with whatever group is willing to help them out.
You can't just ignore the long history of warfare between Russia and Chechnya. This stuff has been going on for a couple of centuries. Large-scale killings and deportations of Chechens by Russia have obviously not prevented the rise of Chechen terrorists; and a long history of Chechen guerilla warfare has obviously not gained their independence from Russia. For the Chechens, the Russians are about as close to an "ancestral enemy" as you're likely to find.
I am on your side.
It was alberuni that said the Russians were equal to the Chechnyans in an earlier post, not me. It took me a while to figure him out, but that seems to be what he was. If he had managed to avoid being zotted for a few more posts we might have got him to admit he was a lifetime member of Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.
I was only saying that alberuni was a pacifistic left leaning, (probably) tree hugging moron, not a terrorist defender.
And you'd propose doing that to all X billion people who call themselves Islamic?
click on the picture where the arrows (left right are)
http://www.gzt.ru/photo/index.gzt?rid=42&pid=509
An excellent analysis. I would only add that it is not all sects of Islam that are actively prosecuting these attacks, but specific groups with in Islam. Granted that there are tremendous numbers in these groups-
The choice is not mine, it is theirs.
Whose choice -- Islamic women and children? Male Muslims who aren't involved with an Islamic terrorist organization? Where do you draw the line for who's "choosing?"
Man, that's harsh.
Correct, but harsh. Sometimes harsh is what saves the day.
The Russians have been "harsh" with the Chechens for a very long time, and it doesn't seem to have stopped the Chechens from committing these sorts of atrocities.
Yes, it could. We need to be vigilant both in prayer and in practice.
Yes, it could. We need to be vigilant both in prayer and in practice.
Yes, it could. We need to be vigilant both in prayer and in practice.
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