K
KimC
This story absolutely broke my heart today -- the photos were unreal. Let's say a prayer for these people and remember how fortunate we are!!!
Captives Escape After Hours of Pitched Battles
By C.J. CHIVERS and STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: September 3, 2004
ESLAN, Russia, Sept. 3 ? The siege of a school here in southern Russia ended today in panic, violence and death 52 hours after it began. At least 200 people ? most of them students, teachers and parents ? died, according to official reports and witnesses, after two large explosions sparked pitched battles between the heavily armed hostage-takers and Russian forces.
Ambulances, police cars and any other vehicle that was free rushed as many as 700 hostages to hospitals in frenzied convoys that careered through the streets of this small, leafy city in North Ossetia.
Scores survived, staggering from the school even as intense gunfire sputtered and grenades exploded around them. Many were barely dressed, their faces strained with fear and exhaustion, their bodies bloodied by shrapnel and gunshots. Many others never got out. Their bodies lay in the charred wreckage of Middle School No. 1's gymnasium, whose roof had collapsed and burned, a police officer here said. Many people feared the toll would rise.
Gunfire and explosions erupted sporadically in and around the school deep into the night, as pockets of hostage-takers continued to fight, including three who remained hunkered inside a nearby building, reportedly holding an unknown number of captives. Officials did not declare the crisis over until 11:30 p.m., more than 10 hours after the violence began.
The battle around the school ? which Russian officials said had erupted unexpectedly for reasons that were not immediately clear ? ended a siege that began when more than two dozen masked, camouflaged and armed attacker stormed the school on Wednesday as children and parents gathered for a festive first day of classes.
The number of dead and wounded far surpassed the number of hostages that were even reported being held, prompting accusations here that the authorities had deliberately underplayed the severity of the crisis. A presidential adviser, Aslambek Aslakhanov, said today, for the first time, that as many as 1,200 people might in fact have been held.
President Vladimir V. Putin, confronted with perhaps the worst crisis of his five years in office, did not immediately address what had unfolded here. Other officials, in Moscow and in North Ossetia, said that Russian forces had not instigated the firefights but were forced to return fire and then to storm the school after the first explosions, which occurred just after 1 p.m.
"Taking advantage of the panic, hostages began to escape," Lev Dzugayev, a spokesman for North Ossetia's president, said in an interview, referring to the initial blasts. "The bandits began shooting them in the back. The special forces on our side had to cover the fleeing hostages. This is unfortunately how it happened."
Even the preliminary toll of this hostage crisis exceeded that of Russia's last one, in October 2002, when at least 41 armed attackers stormed and held a theater in Moscow for only a few hours longer in a raid with striking similarities. A daring rescue effort by commandos killed all the captors, but also left 129 of the hostages dead, mostly from the effects of a nerve gas pumped into the building. With memories of the siege newly revived, the authorities here had hoped, in vain, to avoid a similarly bloody end.
The dead included several Russian soldiers and security officials ? one reported killed tonight as he rescued two more children ? and at least 20 of the estimated force of attackers of 30 or more. What happened to the other captors was unknown. At least a few were reported to have escaped in the confusion.
Maj. Gen. Valery A. Andreyev, director of North Ossetia's branch of the Federal Security Service, said half of the dead fighters were foreigners, apparently from Arabic countries. If verified, that would comport with the Kremlin's assertions that Chechnya's rebels were receiving aid and manpower from abroad.
The afternoon's convulsion of violence ended the fretful vigil by the relatives of those held since Wednesday in conditions described as horrid ? for many families joyously, but for others grievously. Two girls who escaped, tattered and wan but apparently unhurt, emerged from a car not far from the school and raced to their family's courtyard, where they met and hugged their mother. She swung them in circles.
Captives Escape After Hours of Pitched Battles
By C.J. CHIVERS and STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: September 3, 2004
ESLAN, Russia, Sept. 3 ? The siege of a school here in southern Russia ended today in panic, violence and death 52 hours after it began. At least 200 people ? most of them students, teachers and parents ? died, according to official reports and witnesses, after two large explosions sparked pitched battles between the heavily armed hostage-takers and Russian forces.
Ambulances, police cars and any other vehicle that was free rushed as many as 700 hostages to hospitals in frenzied convoys that careered through the streets of this small, leafy city in North Ossetia.
Scores survived, staggering from the school even as intense gunfire sputtered and grenades exploded around them. Many were barely dressed, their faces strained with fear and exhaustion, their bodies bloodied by shrapnel and gunshots. Many others never got out. Their bodies lay in the charred wreckage of Middle School No. 1's gymnasium, whose roof had collapsed and burned, a police officer here said. Many people feared the toll would rise.
Gunfire and explosions erupted sporadically in and around the school deep into the night, as pockets of hostage-takers continued to fight, including three who remained hunkered inside a nearby building, reportedly holding an unknown number of captives. Officials did not declare the crisis over until 11:30 p.m., more than 10 hours after the violence began.
The battle around the school ? which Russian officials said had erupted unexpectedly for reasons that were not immediately clear ? ended a siege that began when more than two dozen masked, camouflaged and armed attacker stormed the school on Wednesday as children and parents gathered for a festive first day of classes.
The number of dead and wounded far surpassed the number of hostages that were even reported being held, prompting accusations here that the authorities had deliberately underplayed the severity of the crisis. A presidential adviser, Aslambek Aslakhanov, said today, for the first time, that as many as 1,200 people might in fact have been held.
President Vladimir V. Putin, confronted with perhaps the worst crisis of his five years in office, did not immediately address what had unfolded here. Other officials, in Moscow and in North Ossetia, said that Russian forces had not instigated the firefights but were forced to return fire and then to storm the school after the first explosions, which occurred just after 1 p.m.
"Taking advantage of the panic, hostages began to escape," Lev Dzugayev, a spokesman for North Ossetia's president, said in an interview, referring to the initial blasts. "The bandits began shooting them in the back. The special forces on our side had to cover the fleeing hostages. This is unfortunately how it happened."
Even the preliminary toll of this hostage crisis exceeded that of Russia's last one, in October 2002, when at least 41 armed attackers stormed and held a theater in Moscow for only a few hours longer in a raid with striking similarities. A daring rescue effort by commandos killed all the captors, but also left 129 of the hostages dead, mostly from the effects of a nerve gas pumped into the building. With memories of the siege newly revived, the authorities here had hoped, in vain, to avoid a similarly bloody end.
The dead included several Russian soldiers and security officials ? one reported killed tonight as he rescued two more children ? and at least 20 of the estimated force of attackers of 30 or more. What happened to the other captors was unknown. At least a few were reported to have escaped in the confusion.
Maj. Gen. Valery A. Andreyev, director of North Ossetia's branch of the Federal Security Service, said half of the dead fighters were foreigners, apparently from Arabic countries. If verified, that would comport with the Kremlin's assertions that Chechnya's rebels were receiving aid and manpower from abroad.
The afternoon's convulsion of violence ended the fretful vigil by the relatives of those held since Wednesday in conditions described as horrid ? for many families joyously, but for others grievously. Two girls who escaped, tattered and wan but apparently unhurt, emerged from a car not far from the school and raced to their family's courtyard, where they met and hugged their mother. She swung them in circles.
I saw the whole coverage on CNN International here and how nervous one of the correspondents was as he spoke. It was like watching the scene from a horror movie, but unfortunately, it was really happening right before our eyes. Bruna, my seven year old daughter was sitting next to me, but since she can't really understand all the English broadcast on the news, I didn't go into much detail or she would start thinking it could happen here at her school as well. I then looked at her and gave her a big hug. So many mothers have lost their little ones! Many of them of Bruna's age group. The whole thing just makes me sick!
