67 Hostages Killed, 700 Rescued in Russian raid on Chechen Terrorists

San Mateo County TImes - LA TIMES ^

[BurbankKarl]

Article Last Updated: Saturday, October 26, 2002 - 2:57:53 AM MST

Russians storm theater Captors were 'liquidated,' officials say By John Daniszewski and David Holley By John Daniszewski and David Holley Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW -- Police commandos armed with sleeping gas and blazing guns stormed a theater here early today and overcame Chechen separatists holding about 700 hostages. Authorities said they were forced to launch the rescue after rebels began to kill captives. The leader of the hostage-takers and around 30 of his companions were "liquidated," officials said. There was still no official word about the toll among the hostages. An Australian diplomat was told that the number was no more than 10, and that none of the estimated 75 foreigners were among the dead. But a police officers said he saw "a lot of corpses."

[Neets]

Sad ending..but at least it is over.

[ThinkDifferent]

It's actually better than I expected. It could easily have ended with ten times as many hostages dead.

[listenhillary]

The U.S. would be howling if it happened here and 67 dead.

[M Kehoe]

Prayers for the families of those killed going up.

Islam, the religion of peace...my @ss.

5.56mm

[ThinkDifferent]

The U.S. would be howling if it happened here and 67 dead.

No question. I hope we don't get upset when Russia does what we would do if it had happened here.

[Neets]

It's actually better than I expected. It could easily have ended with ten times as many hostages dead.

Hence, your screen name!!!! ;-)

But yes, you are right of course.

[Pern]

9.5% casualty rate. The Russians are getting better at hostage rescue!

[riley1992]

It's actually better than I expected.

I agree. I had fears of it being much, much worse when it ended.

[ProbableCause]

I thought there was a good chance all the hostages would be killed along with several commandos when they went in and the building subsequently exploded and collapsed. The circumstances looked mighty grim, what with the whole structure packed with explosives. I'd say the outcome is about as good as could be reasonably hoped for.

[putupon]

The U.S. would be howling if it happened here and 67 dead.

With all the INS screw ups, outright corruption, the State Dept. employee who let in some of the 9-11 terrorists getting a $15,000 bonus, and the PC "let 'em all in" philosophy of BOTH political parties having caused approx 3000 deaths on 9-11 , the death and destruction of the first WTC bombing, deaths at the CIA headquarters at Langley, a factor in beltawy sniper spree, etc., etc. etc., there should be alot of howling going on right now.

Read Michelle Malkin's book <>Invasion and her columns.

"click here"

[BubbaJunebug]

The leader of the hostage-takers and around 30 of his companions were "liquidated," officials said. There was still no official word about the toll among the hostages

Don't you just love that word..liquidated

[SubMareener]

Picture required!

[john in missouri]

I was expecting anywhere from 150 to 500 dead.

[The Red Zone]

Squished like a june bug into a puddle of juice

[germanicus]

I pity (not) the Chechens that have been captured. They're going to wish they were in hell with their fallen fellow murderers.

[Musket]

Yes, liquidated. Would love to read that the prisoners in Gitmo were liquidated, but our dumb *ss officials are letting them go to kill again. When will we learn?

[grania]

The circumstances looked mighty grim, what with the whole structure packed with explosives. I'd say the outcome is about as good as could be reasonably hoped for.

I was afraid we were going to wake up this morning to images equivalent to the World Trade Center. According to the article, the number of dead is still unknown. It is not known how many are "liquidated" (love that word choice) hostagetakers and how many are hostages. There was also some mention of people who looked dead, but were asleep from whatever gas was used.

The horror of these situations...it just doesn't get easier. It sounds like the Russians did as well as possible, in a very bad situation.

[SkyPilot]

"Chechen separatists"

They are not Islamic Terrorists? Oh, that's right, CNN called them "freedom fighters" or "rebels." On Reuters they were students.Anything but Muslim fanatics and murderers.

Why don't we all have a group hug and call them:

Those Wacky Pranksters :-)

[BillM]

Waco didn't disturb the Democrats.