Posted on 09/03/2004 11:00:54 AM PDT by michigander
Last Updated: , 15:31 GMT 16:31 UKEyewitness: Hostage terror
Survivors of the Russian school siege have been giving details of their ordeal.A teacher freed by the gang in the middle of the siege estimated there had been about 1,500 captives.
One boy who emerged on Friday, looking pale and anguished, told reporters he had been so shocked at his release he was unable to recognise his own parents.
Diana, another survivor, said people had had nothing to eat or drink.
"We were forced to urinate into bottles and drink our own urine through our shirts that we put over the top of them," she said.
Many of the children who ran to safety after Friday's explosions began were in their underwear, having been kept herded together by their captors in the late summer heat.
Two boys, one of them injured, told Russia's NTV channel of the moment an explosion gave them a chance to escape.
"Suddenly there was an explosion," said one.
"And we lay down behind our chairs - I was lying full of fear," said the other.
Struggle to escape
Asked how he had got his injuries, the wounded boy said he had been trying to break windows along with others.
"People could not get out and were smashing the windows," he said.
"We were lucky really that we had plastic windows in our sports hall. Otherwise there would have been more cuts and injuries.
"I saw people running away in all directions. Some 200 or 300 people were running in the same direction as we were."
The boy said that the captors had opened fire on the escaping hostages.
"They were firing at the escaping people from the top of the roof," he told NTV.
The boys added that the first explosion had produced a lot of smoke while a second blast rained down burning debris.
Bombs in the gym
Rita Gadzhinova, a physics teacher, was freed by the gang on Thursday along with her three-year-old daughter, Madina, but was not allowed to take out her other two daughters, aged 11 and 14.
In an interview for Russia's Izvestiya newspaper, she described how the gang had seized the school in a matter of minutes, taking hostage about 1,500 people, according to her calculations.
The attackers herded their captives into the gym where they planted two big bombs in the two basketball baskets and laid cables leading to other, smaller charges across the floor, said Ms Gadzhinova.
Asked to describe them, she said they had never removed their masks and always talked in a whisper, speaking in Russian with Chechen or Ingush accents. She said she could not tell how many of them there were and had not seen any women fighters in the gym.
They would fire into the ceiling to frighten their captives but did not abuse anyone, she said.
However, men among the hostages were periodically put up against windows as human shields, the teacher added.
"The youngest children were very frightened but they behaved with great discipline though they often asked to go to the toilet because of their fear," she said.
"They were marched to the toilet and if the toddlers started to cry the fighters would fire blanks in the air and shout for them to keep quiet."
'Finished off'
Fellow hostage Zalina Dzandarova, 27, said two women suicide bombers had blown themselves up in a corridor of the school on the first day of the siege, killing some male hostages.
"The men terrorists told us afterwards that their sisters had conquered," she said.
Speaking to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, she supported Mrs Gadzhinova's figure of 1,500 hostages and added that there seemed to have been about 30 gunmen.
Ms Dzandarova said the gunmen had shot dead at least 20 people on the first day of the siege.
They killed those who had been wounded during the invasion of the school and also killed any men who tried to resist them, she said.
"Some of the wounded were taken out of the gym and finished off right in the corridor," the former hostage added.
Politicians and the teachers unions don't have time to consider such scenarios since they are too busy trying to keep armed CCW holders out of schools
Yep. A gun-free zone to criminals means open season on students and teachers.
Unfortunately, they won't encounter much resistanace in schools since guns are banned there (except for one or two states, I beleive), and everyone is unarmed.
Actually the bleeding hearts will suddenly jump out of the woodworks and shout that Guns are illegal near schools and all of the Terrorist thugs will immediately lay down their guns and surrender.
/sarcasm off
I think this incident is probably best referred to as a rehearsal.
Time to get rid of ALL Islamofascists....Hey did any one check to see if Putin asked permission from the UN to handle this threat? NO? oh my my I am shocked
I wouldn't discount the possibility of something like this happening here to only those areas with a large Muslim population. As far as I'm concerned, it could really happen anywhere in this country.
The interesting thing about the Chechen school tragedy is that Abu Walid the relatively new Saudi born leader of the Chechen terrorists (he replaced Khattab who was poisoned in 02 who was also a Saudi) said recently on Al Jazeera they would take their fight outside of Chechnya to Russian controlled areas with large Muslim populations. I'm guessing that's in order to incite the Muzzles in other provinces but also for the support that is needed.
I'm just guessing again, but I would think they wouldn't want to travel too far from their safe house to their destination here in the States as they don't want to risk being stopped or something going wrong. But in the final analysis I agree, nowhere is totally safe.
The BBC hates Russia and always sides with the chechens. There used to be a British poster here who did the same.
This was a Basayev led operation. It has his marks all over it. Plus the black widows.
Another interesting point is that Abu Walid in the same telecast (it was actually fragments of various interviews) stated he encouraged the use of women suicide terrorists whose husbands and sons have been killed by the Russians. It appears to be a growing trend worldwide among these guys.
Guns should be REQUIRED for teachers, not banned.
Not only required but they should be required to qualify with them every 6 months.
It appears to be a growing trend worldwide among these guys.
A feminist would call that progress.
This is unbelievable.
Jesus, please comfort the families and bring justice to the depraved terrorists.
Turns out that Abu Walid is second in command to only Basayev. Sounds like Walid is the money guy and coordinates the funneling of foreign funds for their activities. Is Basayev a native Chechen?
Yes. born and raised there.
Red
Walid is Khattab's replacement. Khattab was Jordanian, but of course these are just chechen nationalists/not.
Do you know if Walid is the same guy the Russian news reports are calling Abu Omar al Seif? Their descriptions sound exactly the same, Saudi Wahabists, very strict Islamic ideologues who control the flow of Saudi money. The article I read about Walid was dated Feb/04 and said Walid was second in command only to Basayev but was extremely powerful as he contolled all the money. Report said Walid had trained in Afghanistan (AQ) and fought in Bosnia.
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