Posted on 10/27/2002 2:10:43 AM PST by Destro
Russians probe al-Qa'eda link as a number of Arab fighters were among hostage tackers
By Christina Lamb and Ben Aris in Moscow
(Filed: 27/10/2002)
Russian security forces were last night investigating links between Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda organisation and Chechen rebels after special forces dramatically ended the Moscow theatre siege, leaving scores of hostages dead.
Most of the 50 Chechen terrorists - including 18 women - were killed when the Russian forces moved in a dawn raid after filling the theatre with sleeping gas through the ventilation system.
Russian emergency services bring hostages out of the theatre after the special forces assault
The rescue mission was launched after the rebels started carrying out their threat to execute some of the 800 theatregoers held hostage for three nights.
Health officials said that at least 90 hostages were killed during the assault. Many are believed to have died as a result of the gassing after choking on vomit. Three terrorists were said to have survived and were taken for interrogation.
None of the 30 children was killed, nor any of the 75 foreigners, including a British mother and son.
As the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, toured a hospital where survivors were being treated, his security chiefs were investigating the extent of links between al-Qa'eda and the Chechens.
The Telegraph has learned that a number of Arab fighters, believed to be of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni origin, were among the group that seized control of the theatre.
Russian Spetsnaz storm the theatre after shots were heard
"There were definitely Arab terrorists in the building with links to al-Qa'eda," said a senior Western diplomat. "The Russians will now want to know how much help the Chechens received from bin Laden's organisation."
Mr Putin had claimed that "foreign elements" were involved and suspicions about al-Qa'eda's connection deepened after the Chechens broadcast a pre-recorded message on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television network, which is frequently used by bin Laden and his lieutenants.
The leader of the rebels was killed during the assault
Russian officials said that the hostage-takers had made several calls to the United Arab Emirates during the siege.
Last night thousands of angry relatives waited at hospital gates, denied access to sons and daughters, husbands and wives suffering the effects of the mystery fumes.
In an address to the nation Mr Putin apologised for failing to save all the hostages. "Please forgive us," he said. "We shall win this fight against international terrorism."
The decision to storm the building came at 5.30am. "When the rebels began shooting hostages the special plan was switched on," said Vladimir Vasilyev, the deputy interior minister.
"The danger was very high and we were afraid there might be a major explosion. We used special means to neutralise the terrorists."
Editor,
While I know that honest, unbiased and fair reporting seem to be concepts difficult for the Los Angeles Times to grasp, I am still curious as to why, in reporting about the Chechyn terrorists who captured 800 hostages at the theater in Moscow, they are referred to as "Militants" or "Rebels", but no mention is made that they are Moslem terrorists and that there were several Arabs among them from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Is the Times too concerned about not offending people that it has to color the truth? Whatever happened to objective and truthful reporting?
We are wasting our time with Iraq. Our real enemy is in Mecca.
Since you asked such a pertinent question - I will answer you. The clever, crafty Saudis have been able to convince President Bush that the Iraqis are the enemies of the US. What better way to deflect attention from themselves. Iraq is to Saudi Arabian muslim fanatics, as Serbia was to Albanian Muslim fanatics.
We are again being played for a sucker. I wish we could muster our forces to get rid of the fanatics in Saudi Arabia, but I am afraid President Bush has dug himself into a deep hole and can't reverse his course.
If this was in the US, I could see Pravda covering it truthfully. Not the American media. Sad.
Not me. Pravda is still run by Communists.
And you think the American press isn't? The difference is that the Russian press has been moving rightward for some time, and is becoming more credible. The American press may do the same sometime, but it still seems stuck in CNN mode.
Did I say that? There are indeed a lot of 60s new-left Marxists running some US newspapers (the NY and LA Times come to mind in particular), not to mention most journalism schools. And yeah, most of the TV news is leftwing. That doesn't make Pravda better. It's still the official organ of the Russian Communist party as far as I know. The big difference in Russia is that there are now competing points of view. Kind of like how CNN now has Fox News to deal with.
There are. But that isn't such a quantum leap as it may seem. There were always competing points of view within the old one-party structure. The big thing about Pravda nowadays is that it's moving towards reporting news without any flavoring, instead of doing what they did before where everything was looked at through a red glass.
But even that isn't altogether new. The old "soviet era" pravda did publish a straight newspaper. Pravda was available in two variants: the standard pap for the sheeple, and another, more factual one, for apparatsjiks. They were published on different-colored paper (can't remember the colors now) but it was probably partly to ensure that a "dangerous" one wouldn't be carelessly left on a bus seat or something.
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