Special forces troops took control of a Moscow theatre in the early hours of Saturday morning where hundreds of hostages were being held by Chechen rebels, killing their leader and freeing all the captives.
At least 20 bodies were seen being taken from the theatre after a night of explosions and gunfire. Some of the bodies being removed were those of hostages, according to Russian news agencies, although it is not yet known just how many were killed by the gunmen.
Up to 30 hostages died during the storming of the Moscow theatre where Chechen rebels had been holding 700 people for the past three days, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said on Saturday. Thirty six Chechen rebels who had held the hostages at gunpoint are reported to have been killed.
At the windows of the ambulances, the pale faces of exhausted hostages could be seen, some of them leaning their heads against the window, the men unshaven, as rescue services ferried them to a
hospital for receive medical treatment and psychological help to overcome their trauma.
Sergei Ignatchenko, a representative for the federal security service, said most of the hostage takers, including their leader, Movsar Baryev, had been killed. He said the operation to free the hostages had begun shortly after the Chechen rebels began executing the captives.
Movsar Barayev, a young warlord who inherited a gang of rebels from his uncle, the infamous Arbi Barayev, had led the group of as many as 50 heavily armed men and women into the theatre in a bold raid carried out less than five kilometres from the Kremlin.
Earlier, officials reported that two hostages had been killed and two injured and that the gunmen had begun to execute their captives. A group of women hostages escaped as soldiers armed with assault rifles were seen moving toward the theatre.
The gunmen had earlier threatened to begin killing their captives before sunrise on Saturday. After news of the two deaths emerged, officials managed to reach the captors by mobile phone but said that their negotiations had failed.
The gunmen had promised to release the hostages if the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, agreed to declare an end to the war in Chechnya and began withdrawing troops. – Guardian Unlimited, Sapa-AFP