Yeah, I'm sure they probably did.
I just hope they didn't get confused in the fog of war and mis-identify some hapless man (or woman) who was actually a hostage. In combat -- when emotions are running very high -- things like that have happened in the past, so I worry about that.
On another FR thread concerning this subject, a freeper posted that when (IIRC) Stalin had a continuing situation with a group like the Chechees, and a leader(Kinda like AL-SADR type,or this "leader" of these child murders).
Durring a standoff between the two, Stalin gave the impression that he was maybe ready to "negotiate".
The rebel leader was sent a box from Stalin before the "actual" negotiations were to take place.
The box contained the head of one of the rebel leaders' closest relatives(ie,father, mother, wife, one of his children etc), that Stalin could get a hold of.
The rebel "problem" permanently vanished without a shot fired.