Islam is a religion of peace?
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."
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.
Don't forget to bury the bodies with pigs.
Too true- remembering that the Russians were aligned with France and Germany in the Axis of Weasels when GWB and POweel tried so hard get UN support for removing Saddam Hussein and cleaning out the spider holes in Iraq.
Unfortunately the Russians have now seen what we saw on 9-11- that 20 islamic extremists bent on murder of as many innocents as possible can constitute a "weapon of mass destruction"
We are checking right now. Send an emergency email to several Orthodox priests and bishops. Waiting to hear back.
"...the Chechen terrorists kidnapped five British telecom engineers for $20 million, received the money and cut their heads off and put them on stakes next to the road; and the Chechen terrorists and their AlQaeda Arab allies occupied a theater in Moscow with the result that 120 civilians were killed, many of them children; and the Chechen terrorists blew up two jets with 90 civilians; and the Chechen terrorists kidnap Russian soldiers and cut their heads off on video for sale because they will not renounce Christianity for Islam. I could go on for days; don't give me your crap about a phony moral and historical equivalence, not today with upwards of 200 innocents slaughtered by a bunch of cowardly trash...."
Bravo! Best post of the day there Mr. Laconic man. And the terrorism against Christians in the area goes way back before the Russians fighting in the Chechen capital.
I really would like to see a public message of condolence and support for Russia from President Bush.
Instead, a Russian retaliation would merely cause more Chechens to join with the salamikazes. (Aa it happens, standard guerilla tactic is to spur your opponent into committing atrocities against your recruiting pool, so the "kill 'em all" strategy would be playing into the salamikazes' hands.)
The better approach is to do as the IDF, and our own folks in Iraq, are doing: find and remove the leadership of the Chechen terrorists, kill as many gun-toters as possible, and work to turn the population against the salamikazes.
In the case of Chechnya, this might be difficult (the enmity between Russia and Chechnya dates back a couple of hundred years). But widespread killing of non-terrorist Chechens won't help matters at all.
Yep, thank goodness we have a God-fearing man (as opposed to the feminized rat called Kerry), who sees reality as it really is, and is not afraid to speak the truth bodly and clearly. GOD bless him!
Lord have mercy on the poor and innocent souls in Russia (and around the world) who are being slaughtered by RADICAL ISLAMIC demons. Please Lord, help the just defend the innocent and erradicate evil.
http://www.orthodoxnet.com/
I don't know...
Killin' kids kinda tips the scales an itty, bitty bit against the Chechnian militants.
Bless their lil' ole hearts.
(Translation will be provided for the Southernese impaired).
Sadly, It's only a matter of time. I join you in your prayer.
Oh dear lord!
It rips your heart to look at that picture!
I sent an e-mail to the Russian consulate at:
mail@ruscon.org
I tried the phone lines at the Embassy and the NY consulate, but they are overwhelmed right now. It rings engaged all the time.
And you sit here and defend them. You sirrah are zotbait.
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