Posted on 09/03/2004 2:21:29 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
BESLAN, Russia (CNN) -- Hundreds more hostages may be inside a school under siege in southern Russian than first thought, Russian officials have said.
As the crisis entered its third day Friday, a spokesman for the regional government told CNN an earlier estimate of 350 hostages was low.
Two of 26 hostages freed by their captors on Thursday indicated there were 1,000 children, parents and teachers inside the building in Beslan, near the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
Relatives waiting outside the school also have said there could be as many as 1,000 hostages, noting that the school has 11 grades with 75-100 students in each grade.
Asked about the discrepancy with the earlier estimate, the regional government spokesman said officials originally accounted only for those children whose parents reported them missing.
But teachers also were in the school when armed attackers seized the building Wednesday morning.
And many of the children -- especially in the lower grades -- were accompanied by their parents and in some cases entire families for a celebration to mark the start of the school year.
"The situation in school very, very dire," CNN's Ryan Chilcote reported from the scene.
"Two of the 26 women and children released yesterday are saying the situation is very bad inside the school's gymnasium where the hostages are being kept.
"At one point the men were separated from the women and children. The men were then brought back into the gymnasium, but there weren't as many of them, and there's no word what happened to the other men."
"There is no food and water. At one point the hostage-takers brought them one cup of water for, as they put it, 1,000 hostages."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Thanks. Poor little kids
It appears the local authorities were well prepared for this. Troops were on the scene almost immdiately.
You must remember, after the theatre acene 2 years ago they have been very concerned about civilian injuries resulting from rasg actions.
I think it has been handled very well,
Amazing how the media, even Fox, can't bring themselves to admit Bush is right about going after not just OBL but all Islamic terrorists. Oooh, but we can't hurt the feelings of the handful of civilized muslims in America. These "militants" ARE Islamic terrorists. What amazes me more is there has been almost no outcry from civilized muslims here or any other country in the world.
I was watching also this morning. Heart breaking. :-(
scene has moved to another area where Russian forces are surrounding the terrs
Yes, Russian troops were there quite soon but in the last three days they've let civilians roam around freely. At the beginning of the action early this morning, people in the crowd were shot. The soldiers should never have let the onlookers and media within 3 blocks of the scene.
Dana Lewis on FoxNews: Terrorists actually fired at children/hostages as they (both terrorists and children/teachers) escaped when the military started the engagement earlier.
Many children/hostages were caught in the crossfire between terrorists and soldiers.
What the he** is wrong with those people. Thank God it wasn't more massive. I am sick at the thought of their ability to deal with a huge, massive attack.
This is horrible but I do hope it is fricken wake up call for them to say we looked pretty stupid to our fellow countries.
Then they would sit and then say as if in a after the thought. We need fix it so we don't lose anymore countrymen.
just my opinion
These are local troops. They live here with these people. Also, thisis an area quite distant from Moscow. It is a semi-autonomous area. It may be questionable militarily, but it, to me at least, does show a concern for the entire situation.
This is how I have read this.
Exactly right.
I am having the dog-gone-est time finding a map to show where this place is...lol.And I work on the internet...lol
FoxNews reporting at least 5 children were killed. Dana Lewis expects that number to rise.
150 persons who were inside are unaccounted for.
Was 2.5 hours of heavy gun battles.
Battle at house where terrorists went has been silent for the last 20 minutes. [Everyone inside that house may be dead. They may have had hostages inside--who were shields as they fled the school.]
Another set of terrorists may have escaped toward the train station.
Some townspeople have caught a terrorist alive and are tearing him to pieces right in front of the news cameras.
...sh*t happens....
Also bodies are starting to be brought out of school...
BTW, good morning and it was a delightful chat, if one can call talking about such a sad news story.
30 Women and Children Freed in Beslan (most recent update from Moscow Times)
What about his human rights??? International criminal court, Kofi, Answer - any ideas.
this is still on going news with CNN-Asia...it ain't over yet.
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