I can't believe those idiots. That's really a great way to build support for your cause, isn't it? Start killing school kids 50 at a time like they threatened?
10 of the 20 terrorists were Arabs.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Fighting still on, 150 of 1,200 hostages deadAdd to Clippings
AP[ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2004 10:15:43 PM ]
BESLAN: Russia's hostage crisis erupted into explosions, gunfire and screams of fleeing children Friday as commandos stormed the school where militants strapped with bombs had held as many as 1,200 people hostage.
More than 150 people were dead, and officials said the toll would rise significantly.
Hours later, Russian forces still were engaged in a "fierce fight" to free an unspecified number of people held captive, including children, said Valery Andreyev, the top Federal Security Service official in the region. Three militants reportedly were blockaded in the basement of the school, possibly including the leader of the hostage-takers.
Shortly after 8 p.m. (1600GMT), a powerful blast rang out on the school grounds, and an official said a member of an elite security unit died saving two young girls, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Ten militants were killed in gunfights with security forces - and nine of them were Arab mercenaries, said Aslanbek Aslakhanov, President Vladimir Putin's adviser on Chechnya.
He also said the death toll might be "much more" than 150, the Interfax news agency said, and that militants may have initially seized 1,200 hostages, most of them children - far more than earlier estimates.
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