Chechen take Russian school hostage

[HoboFactory]

BELSAN, Russia — More than a dozen militants wearing bomb belts seized a southern Russian school in a region bordering Chechnya (search) on Wednesday, taking hostage about 400 people — half of them children — and threatening to blow up the building if police storm it. As many as eight people have been reported killed, one of them a school parent.

 

Hours into the desperate standoff, security officials said they had made brief contact with the hostage-takers. Russian special forces wearing camouflage and carrying heavy-caliber machine guns surrounded Middle School No. 1. About 1,000 people, mostly parents, were massed around the three-story building in the town of Belsen, demanding information and accusing the government of failing to protect their children.

 

Kazbek Dzantiyev, head of the North Ossetia region's Interior Ministry, said that the hostages have threatened "for every destroyed fighter, they will kill 50 children and for every injured fighter — 20 (children)," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

 

At one point, a girl wearing a floral print dress and a red bow in her hair fled the school, her hand held by a flak-jacketed soldier. An older woman followed them. Ruslan Ayamov, spokesman for North Ossetia's Interior Ministry told The Associated Press that 12 children and one adult managed to escape after hiding in the building's boiler room.

 

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3rd terrorist attack on Russia in the last 2 weeks. It hurts to see my home country suffer this way.

[juanpe]

yes, it is sad to hear that... I'm looking at the news all the time to see if there is any news about it... gosh, there are around 150 children inside ;) international terrorism frightens me... and Putin doesnt seem to know what to do...

 

now it's about time to remember Bush's words when he justified that the US had to invade Irak so that international terrorism would finish... and see how things not only haven't changed but have gotten worse (attacks in Russia, the Middle East attacks and bombings everyday, the dramatic situation in Irak...)

 

sometimes I feel ashamed of belonging to the human race...

 

Pavel, I feel sympathy for you and for your country in these hard moments

[HoboFactory]

Honestly, I don't care if this comes across as racist, but the people who are doing this are animals, they should be dealt with as such. Deliberately targeting children and threatening them with systematic murder unless a bunch of killers aren't released from prison.

[Boond]

i agree...to take children hostage...and all these kids will carry the emotional scars from this for the rest of their lives...there is a certain point when ones actions make you subhuman...and this would be it

 

on a happy note, a number of hostages, largely women and babies were allowed out

 

on a less happy note, most local russians claim that the school probably holds more people than officially stated, perhaps as many as 700

[Sparq]

I wonder if they've improved on that gas they used when a Russian theatre was taken over... knockout gas with a 40% fatality rate isn't the best way to keep hostages alive.

[Skwu]

I guess these people mean business and are deseperate to get heard.

[juanpe]

i'm scared of the fact that Putin uses that gas which kills so many people again...

[Crusader]

So this same group took credit for the two downed Russian passenger jets.

[HoboFactory]

Under normal circumstances the gas used in the theater crisis in 2002 isn't as lethal as say 40%, the problem was the hostages were weakened by the long time without food and water.

 

Edit:

 

Just thought I would tack this on, it offers an explanation of why is it Russia decided to launch their assault on Chechnya.

 

June 14, 1995

Chechen gunmen take 2,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, near Chechnya. After failed attempts at force, Russia negotiates the hostages' release in exchange for the gunmen's escape. More than 100 die.

 

Jan. 9, 1996

Chechen militants seize 3,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Kizlyar. Rebels release most, then head for Chechnya with about 100 hostages. Rebels are stopped in a village and attacked by Russian troops. At least 78 die in weeklong fight.

 

Jan. 16, 1996

Six Turks and three Chechens hold 255 hostages on ferry in Black Sea, threatening to blow up ship if Russia doesn't halt battles in southern Russia. The rebels surrender after three days.

 

March 9, 1996

Turkish sympathizer hijacks jetliner flying out of Cyprus to draw attention to situation in Chechnya. The sympathizer surrenders after plane lands in Munich, Germany.

 

Sept. 4, 1999

Bomb destroys a building housing Russian military officers and families in Buinaksk in Russia's Dagestan region. Sixty-four die. Russian officials blame Chechen rebels, but never prove their involvement.

 

Sept. 9, 1999

Explosion wrecks a nine-story apartment building in southeast Moscow, killing almost 100. Authorities suspect a Chechen bomb, although no evidence is ever provided to support the claim.

 

Sept. 13, 1999

A bomb destroys an apartment building in southern Moscow, killing 70. Officials blame Chechens, but nobody is ever charged in the attack.

 

Sept. 16, 1999

Bombs shear off the front of a nine-story apartment building in Volgodonsk, 500 miles south of Moscow. Nearly 20 are killed. Authorities again blame Chechens rebels, but nobody is charged.

 

March 16, 2001

Three Chechens hijack a Russian airliner leaving Istanbul and divert it to Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces storm plane, killing one hijacker and two hostages.

 

April 22, 2001

Some 20 gunmen hold about 120 people for 12 hours at a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, to protest Russian actions in Chechnya. The rebels later surrender to police and release the hostages.

 

May 4, 2002

Lone gunman holds 13 people hostage at a hotel in Istanbul to protest situation in Chechnya. The gunman surrenders after an hour.

 

Oct. 24, 2002

Chechen rebels seize 800 people in a Moscow theater. After a three-day standoff, Russian authorities launch a rescue attempt in which all 41 attackers are killed along with 127 hostages who succumb to a knockout gas used to incapacitate the assailants.

 

July 5, 2003

Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.

 

July 10, 2003

A Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow’s main street.

 

Aug. 1, 2003

50 people are killed in Mozdok, North Ossetia, when a truck bomb smashes through the gates of a hospital where Russian soldiers injured in Chechnya are treated.

 

Sept. 16, 2003

Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.

 

Dec. 5, 2003

Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections. Six people were killed in two blasts on the same railway line in September.

 

Dec. 9, 2003

Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow’s National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.

 

Feb. 6, 2004

An explosion rips through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour, killing 41 people.

 

June 21- 22, 2004

Chechen rebels kill at least 92 people, mostly law-enforcement officers and officials, while setting fire to police and government buildings around Nazran, the main city of the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.

 

Aug. 25, 2004

Chechen suicide bombers blamed for explosions that kill 90 people on board two Russian planes.

Edited September 3, 2004 by HoboFactory

[Boond]

wow those are some active bastards....it makes me sick

[no yu begin wher i end]

CTV Newsnet is running a story of Chechen citizens who are protesting the hostage taking and are denouncing the terrorists. It warms the heart when such troubled people can stand up against the crazed ideologues who claim to be acting for their benefit.

[juanpe]

they freed some kids and women... but the ones who are still inside with them? ;) and they are running out of food and water... how can anyone be as cruel as that?

 

as i said before, i sometimes feel ashamed of being a human being...

[Crusader]

How could you purposely let people starve? This is sick.

[juanpe]

it is so so... subhuman? can you say that in English?

 

i just don't understand their behavior...

[Sparq]

Under normal circumstances the gas used in the theater crisis in 2002 isn't as lethal as say 40%, the problem was the hostages were weakened by the long time without food and water.

Good to know...so if they decide to follow that route, they should do it soon.

 

EDIT: Unless of course the hostage takers were smart enough to bring gas masks...

Edited September 3, 2004 by Sparq

[ok_go_570]

They stormed the school about 45 minuites ago...

 

not sure how many dead but im sure not everyone made it out alive...

 

jesus this stuff pisses me off...;) it just makes me want to personaly kill those responcible... i guess that honor goes to the russian commandos

[Crusader]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/03...hool/index.html

 

Capitalism at work:

Video:  Gunbattle at seized Russian school

 

You need to pay to view that footage off of CNN.com...

[Boond]

well i have to say storming the place was probably the best solution...its a shame so many died, but some dead are better than all dead....i hope all the fuckers who did this caught a bullet

[HoboFactory]

Such a tragedy, I was in tears this morning when I'd heard it.

[ok_go_570]

ALl of them deserve there lives taken away...

 

NO ONE, AND I MEAN KNOW ONE GOES AFTER KIDS

 

I dont care what your after your not going to get it by murdering hundereds of kids... thats just low...even for terrorists. I mean, They cant ever fucking vote for christs sake! ;)

[Crusader]

Though what those terrorists did was wrong, I don't believe they should be executed. I think they should be locked up for life and left to think about what they did. I hope those people haunt them.

[ok_go_570]

thats a good point but i belive that if someone can set off explosives and open fire on them, then they dont have the resolve to grasp what they have done...

 

If i were one of the hostage takers i would want to surrender to one of the russian officials then to one of the commandos there. The people there are even more pissed than i am about the whole thing... and trust me... im pissed

 

I know if i were one of the parents whos 8 year old kid was blown-up or gunned down than i would want to tear them apart myself

[HoboFactory]

It is becoming clear that the militants in Beslan had different plans from the militants in Budyonnovsk. The initial interrogation of a captured militant -- and the result of the attack -- shows the attackers never planned to hold any serious negotiations. They planned to capture hostages, mine the entire school building, then begin killing the hostages and escape in the ensuing panic. The goal behind the attacks was to plant fear in the Russians and kill as many people as possible, score a victory with a high death toll and escape to continue their attacks. Overall, the militants' strategic goal -- and the goal of the whole current campaign of attacks -- is to increase the scale and magnitude of the attacks, attempting to exhaust the Russian people to the point of moral and physical defeat.

 

 

The militants were left with ample time to heavily mine all the places in the school where they planned to detain the hostages, according to sources. They also made professional and scrupulous preparations for their attack, even going so far as to have spare civilian clothes to change into before escaping in the panic. To preclude any resistance from hostages, the militants executed about 15 men, including two captured police guards who were protecting the school. Also, the militants tortured people by not allowing them to eat or drink and by ordering them to undress.

 

 

The militant group's leaders divided the fighters into three groups: One group was meant to escape; the second group was meant to cover the first's escape by firefight; and the final group of militants was meant to die in achieving its ultimate goal of killing as many hostages as possible.

 

So goddamn sick, no words for it.

[no yu begin wher i end]

How about 'fucking animals'?

 

Edit: You're right. No words can describe the senseless slaughter of innocent children.

Edited September 4, 2004 by no yu begin wher i end

[Crusader]

Death toll is up to 340+ now ;).