Reuters
Volunteers carry an injured civilian to safety while soldiers stormed a school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya Sept. 3.
Posted on 09/07/2004 3:02:09 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Russian special services had a surveillance tape of the militants fighting about whether to stay or flee just before a bomb they had planted in the school gym went off, prompting Russian commandos to storm the building, a senior Kremlin official said. Investigators were exploring whether the bomb detonated by accident or as a result of the internal dispute.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
""We gathered in the forest and the Colonel -- it's his nickname -- and they said we must seize the school in Beslan," said the man, who had short, dark hair and no beard. He said the orders came from Basayev and another Chechen commander, Aslan Maskhadov, and that his group included Arabs and Uzbeks as well as Chechens and people of other nationalities. "When we asked the Colonel why we must do it, he said, 'Because we need to start war in the entire territory of the North Caucasus.' "
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I'm hoping we have the brains to stay out of this fight. Putin needs to watch his step. He snubbed the United States by refusing to send troops to fight against Saddam and encouraged France, Germany, and Europe to turn their backs on the US as well.
Perhaps he was afraid Russia's direct involvement in Iraqi Freedom would have ignited the North Cauasus wars. It doesn't matter. Nothing can stop it now.
when he supported Iran's nuclear program!
Thanks for your "Terror Primer" and good work!
No, I hadn't- copied & saved, thanks!
wow
more than 20 elite Russian commandos were killed in the day-long battle that began Friday, many of them accidentally shot in the back by armed civilian vigilantes who rushed to the school to fight for their children.
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What a depressing account even if only half true. Were the civilians retarded???? Boozed up? This is terrible. Didn't any officers try to control, coordinate the civilians?
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