MOSCOW, Sept 1 (AFP) - A group of armed men seized a school in a village in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, taking hostage a group of pupils and opening fire on police, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.
"Police units and interior ministry troops are currently going to the school. We do not know how many pupils and parents are in the building," said the top Kremlin official in the republic, Vladimir Yakovlev.
Interfax quoted the interior ministry as saying that 17 armed men were involved in the operation. Local authorities in the regional capital Vladikavkaz said shooting was continuing and one of the armed men had been killed.
North Ossetia is located close to the rebellious Muslim republic of Chechnya. The school`s pupils, aged between seven and 17, were attending the first day of the new academic year in Russia.