More Than 100 Killed In Chaotic Battle To Free Russian School Hostages

by Yana Dlugy and Karim Talbi
BESLAN, Russia, Sept 3 (AFP) - More than 100 people were reportedly killed and hundreds wounded Friday as Russian special forces stormed a school to free scores of children and adults held hostage for almost three days by militants demanding independence for Chechnya.
By early evening on Friday, Russian troops were still fighting to free hostages from the school in North Ossetia, said the top local security official for the southern Russian region, Valery Andreyev.
Amid the crackle of gunfire and bursts of explosions, dozens of children, many either naked or wearing nothing but their underwear, earlier ran screaming from the school into the arms of waiting troops.
Andreyev said authorities had identified the bodies of 60 victims in the first official toll of the day`s bloody events.
But the Interfax news agency, quoting its correspondent on the scene, said more than 100 corpses of hostages -- some 1,000 were reported taken -- were found in the school gymnasium where they had been herded by the rebels demanding independence for war-torn Chechnya.
Some news reports said troops stormed the building after a female hostage-taker accidentally set off explosives strapped around her waist, causing the roof of the gymnasium to collapse.
The fighting raged for hours, and by early evening security officials said the troops were battling to free children still being held.
"Special forces of the FSB (Federal Security Service) are doing everything they can to free the children that remain in the bandits` hands," Andreyev said on the NTV network.
Security officials added that 10 of the 20 militants killed in the running gunbattles were of Arab descent.
Amid total panic and confusion, soldiers were seen stretchering away the injured, while some of the free hostages sat numbly or in tears on rows of green canvas stretchers lined up on some grass across the road from the school.
Fleeing children rushed past armored personnel carriers that hid heavily armed soldiers firing at the building from which they escaped.
"They are alive! They are alive! They are alive!" screamed rescuers to parents as they carried out wounded and shocked children.
Russian media said most of the children had survived, but about 400 local residents and former hostages were taken to hospitals in the area after being injured, Inferfax reported.
One hundred and fifty-eight children are among those hospitalised in the southern town of Beslan, a source close to the regional president told Moscow Echo radio.
Six children were in serious condition, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported, and an Interfax dispatch said the bodies of 17 others were seen outside the local hospital morgue.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had vowed the hostages` safety was his top priority and the security services said the sudden assault on the school had not been planned.
"I want to point out that we had not planned any kind of armed action. We offered the continuation of the ongoing talks to peacefully release the hostages," said the FSB regional head, Valery Andreyev.
He said the chain of events was triggered when two powerful explosions went off around the school building at around 1:00 pm (0900 GMT).
"The bandits opened intensive fire at the fleeing adults and children. To preserve the lives of the hostages, fire was opened in reply on the bandits. Locals with weapons also started to fire at the bandits. This did not allow effective conditions for the special forces," Andreyev said.
"They were shooting at us from the roof," said one child, recalling how the hostage-takers opened fire on kids who were trying to escape their captors amid the blasts that opened an escape route.
"No, they were shooting from the second floor," corrected a child who looked no older than six.
Freed hostages said they had not been given any food or water during their ordeal. One naked boy said: "We drank urine."
The gunmen had reportedly mined the school`s grounds, and at one point threatened to kill 50 children for every one of their number killed. Chechen separatists have been waging a decade-long war for independence from Russian rule.
Parents had maintained an agonising round-the-clock vigil outside the school since Wednesday, the first day of the new school year and traditionally a day of festivities and celebrations in Russia.
Russian special forces were Friday looking for 13 of the gunmen, ITAR-TASS reported, citing the regional interior ministry, as other reports said five of the hostage-takers were dead. Neighbouring Ingushetia shut its borders to prevent the fugitives slipping away.
European leaders were among the first to express regret at the bloody outcome of the Russian hostage crisis, calling it a "deep human tragedy," but accepted the "dilemma" facing the Russian authorities.
The United Nations had met in emergency session on Wednesday as the crisis erupted, calling for the immediate release of the children.
The hostage-taking was the fourth attack blamed on Chechen rebels to rock Russia since last week.
Those have included a bomb at a bus station on August 24, bomb attacks that brought down two airliners the next day and killed 90 people and an attack by a female suicide bomber outside a Moscow subway on Tuesday that left nine dead and 51 people wounded.