PARIS, Sept 2 (AFP) - The hostage crisis in which some 350 children and adults are being held by armed rebels in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia is in its second day. Here is a chronology of events:
Monday, September 1
08:24 - Twelve people, including one hostage taker, are killed when armed rebels wearing belts laden with explosives take 354 people, including children, parents and teachers hostage at a school in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia
09:49 - Hostage takers threaten to blow up the school building if police storm it
10:32 - Hostage takers demand the release of rebels arrested in a nearby region, according to a Russian report
10:51 - Local authorities open telephone talks with the gunmen
11:07 - Putin urgently returns to Moscow from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to deal with the crisis, meeting with his top security officials upon arrival at the Moscow airport
13:24 - Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov denies that his forces were involved in the hostage taking
13:58 - Hostage takers threaten to kill 50 children for every abductor killed, according to top Russian police official
Tuesday, September 2
01:44 - Washington condemns the attacks and Bush offers US assistance in resolving crisis
02:28 - UN Security Council demands immediate release of hostages
08:15 - Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov cancel trip to Turkey due to crisis
12:06 - Putin says attacks directed "at Russia as a whole"
12:18 - Russia temporarily rules out use of force to end the hostage crisis saying "there is no alternative to dialogue"
13:46 - Two loud explosions occur near the school but are apparently unrelated to the hostage crisis
15:12 - 15 children and 11 women are freed