WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Posted on 09/03/2004 2:45:31 AM PDT by kattracks
BESLAN, Russia - A group of about 30 women and children broke out of a school in southern Russia where militants were holding hundreds of people captive Friday, a news agency reported, after two loud explosions were heard and Russian commandos opened fire near the building.The Interfax news agency said that the school's roof had collapsed and militants were shelling and firing from the building. Interfax said the hostages who broke out of the school included women and children. It was impossible to immediately verify the reports.
Two helicopters hovered overhead. An ambulance rushed from the scene and CNN reported that at least two people were wounded. On Thursday, the militants inside the school had released some 26 of the hundreds of hostages held inside the building since Wednesday.
You're not looking at the whole picture.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
I really hate people who terrorize children. I hope the Russians kill every single one of them slowly.
I hope the retaliation for this vicious attack on innocent children will be strong, vast, swift and harsh.
And this is the group Kerry would like us to call on for "permission" to defend ourselves.
Yes, they are Islamofascists. The lamestream media won't tell you that, though.
By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer
BESLAN, Russia - At least seven people were killed and 310 others wounded Friday, reports said, after commandos stormed a school in southern Russia where hundreds had been held hostage for three days by Chechen rebels strapped with explosives.
Troops killed five of the hostage-takers but 13 others escaped, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. Troops backed by tanks were pursuing the militants, some of whom were said to be holed up in a house in the area, ITAR-Tass said.
Russian authorities claimed to have control of the school, and the Interfax news agency reported that all the hostages had been evacuated from the school gymnasium. But gunfire continued to ring out some three hours after the commandos' raid.
The scene around the school was chaotic: people running through the streets, columns of smoke overhead, the cries of children and the wounded carried off on stretchers.
Seven people were killed, ITAR-Tass said, and some 310 hostages ? most of them children ? were wounded, officials from the regional Health Ministry told the news agency. At least four of the dead were children. A nurse spreading sheets on stretchers told The Associated Press that Russian officials expected "very many" wounded.
The commandos stormed the building on the third day of the hostage crisis in Beslan. The raid came after about 30 women and children broke out of the building, some bloodied and screaming.
Interfax said militants fired at children who ran from the building, and unconfirmed reports said some of the hostage-takers, possibly including women bearing suicide belts, may have taken hostages with them.
Women escaping the building were seen fainting and others, some covered in blood, were carried away on stretchers. Many children were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium where they had been held since the militants took the building Wednesday.
Interfax said the school's roof had collapsed ? possibly from the explosives some militants had strapped to their bodies. The militants had reportedly threatened to blow up the building if authorities tried to storm.
On Thursday, the militants had freed about 26 hostages, all women and children, and Russian officials had been in negotiations with the militants since they had seized the building Wednesday.
There were conflicting reports of the number of hostages, with official saying about 350 and people among a small group freed on Wednesday saying there were about 1,500.
President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) had said that everything possible would be done to end the "horrible" crisis and save the lives of the children.
Two major hostage-taking raids by Chechen rebels outside the war-torn region in the past decade prompted forceful Russian rescue operations that led to many deaths. The most recent, the seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002, ended after a knockout gas was pumped into the building, debilitating the captors but causing almost all of the 129 hostage deaths.
"Rescued" might be a little optimistic--I'm hearing that a number might have been killed, and others badly injured.
Perhap he shouild seek John F'ing's advice! ;~)
It's reasonable to at least ask the U.N. Once anyway. How many times did we ask over Iraq? President Bush can document just how multilateral he really was. The only unilaterelism was in the opposing party's minds -- and in the minds of the black flag movement.
By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer
BESLAN, Russia - At least seven people were killed and 310 others wounded Friday, reports said, after commandos stormed a school in southern Russia where hundreds had been held hostage for three days by Chechen rebels strapped with explosives.
Troops killed five of the hostage-takers but 13 others escaped, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. Troops backed by tanks were pursuing the militants, some of whom were said to be holed up in a house in the area, ITAR-Tass said.
Russian authorities claimed to have control of the school, and the Interfax news agency reported that all the hostages had been evacuated from the school gymnasium. But gunfire continued to ring out some three hours after the commandos' raid.
The scene around the school was chaotic: people running through the streets, columns of smoke overhead, the cries of children and the wounded carried off on stretchers.
Seven people were killed, ITAR-Tass said, and some 310 hostages — most of them children — were wounded, officials from the regional Health Ministry told the news agency. At least four of the dead were children. A nurse spreading sheets on stretchers told The Associated Press that Russian officials expected "very many" wounded.
The commandos stormed the building on the third day of the hostage crisis in Beslan. The raid came after about 30 women and children broke out of the building, some bloodied and screaming.
Interfax said militants fired at children who ran from the building, and unconfirmed reports said some of the hostage-takers, possibly including women bearing suicide belts, may have taken hostages with them.
Women escaping the building were seen fainting and others, some covered in blood, were carried away on stretchers. Many children were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium where they had been held since the militants took the building Wednesday.
Interfax said the school's roof had collapsed — possibly from the explosives some militants had strapped to their bodies. The militants had reportedly threatened to blow up the building if authorities tried to storm.
On Thursday, the militants had freed about 26 hostages, all women and children, and Russian officials had been in negotiations with the militants since they had seized the building Wednesday.
There were conflicting reports of the number of hostages, with official saying about 350 and people among a small group freed on Wednesday saying there were about 1,500.
President Vladimir Putin had said that everything possible would be done to end the "horrible" crisis and save the lives of the children.
Two major hostage-taking raids by Chechen rebels outside the war-torn region in the past decade prompted forceful Russian rescue operations that led to many deaths. The most recent, the seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002, ended after a knockout gas was pumped into the building, debilitating the captors but causing almost all of the 129 hostage deaths.
This TV-grab image shows hostages in the school garden during the rescue operation. Special forces stormed a Russian school and scores of children made a daring escape as explosions and gunfire erupted after militants holding hundreds hostage demanded independence for Chechnya.(AFP/NTV)
This TV-grab image shows Russian soldiers helping an injured woman during the rescure operation in Beslan. Russian special forces stormed a school ending a three-day hostage crisis and freeing hundreds of children, parents and teachers held without food or water by rebels demanding independence for Chechnya.(AFP/NTV)
A man carries his son after he was released from the school seized by armed separatists in the town of Beslan near Chechnya, September 3, 2004. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev
A mother comforts her son as he awaits medical attention near the school in southern Russia where militants were holding hundreds of people captive in Beslan, North Ossetia, in this image from television Friday, Sept. 3, 2004. A group of about 30 women and children broke out of a school in southern Russia where militants were holding hundreds of people captive Friday, a news agency reported, after two loud explosions were heard and Russian commandos opened fire near the building. (AP Photo/APTN)
Russian Interior Ministry officer carries a girl after she was released from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya, September 3, 2004. Russian soldiers battled Chechen separatists on Friday to end a two-day-old school siege as naked children ran out screaming amid explosions and machinegun fire. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev
A boy and a girl sit in a car after they were released from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya, September 3, 2004. Russian soldiers battled Chechen separatists on Friday to end a two-day-old school siege as naked children ran out screaming amid explosions and machinegun fire. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev
But the building did not blow up. That is the most important thing. I hope most children made it.
CNN europe reporting via telphone live that their camerama saw POSSIBLE hundreds of bodies in the Gymnasium.
The Chechnian rebels apparently mined the roof and detonated.
There are still rebels in the school. Pockets of resistance.
Live sounds of machine gun fire.
Both russian and rebel.
God willing, Bush will be reelected. Then, the rational world must CRUSH ISLAMOFASCISM once and for all. Whatever it takes.
Putin should grant them their wish with a three part solution that would end the Chechen problem.
1. Grant Chechnya independence
2. Declare war on Chechnya for violent crimes and aggression against Russia
3. Make all of Chechnya glow in the dark.
Everybody gets what they want. The Chechen problem is over for Russia. The Chechnyans get independence. The Chechnyans get to die for their country in a bomb blast.
Seldom do such perfect solutions present themselves.
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