‘By Allah, I have not killed’

Russian Federation state television on Monday paraded what officials said was the only suspected hostage-taker still alive of the gang who held 1 000 children and adults in a school in southern Russia for three days.

Channel One showed a man who looked like he was from the Caucasus, with a haggard face and his arms handcuffed high behind his back, flanked by two masked men in camouflage.

His chin and cheeks, visible under stubble, were whiter than the rest of his face, which proved — according to the television channel — that he had shaved off his beard just before the hostage raid to make it easier to flee afterwards.

The suspect, now in the hands of the intelligence services and whose name and nationality were not released, was firing with an automatic weapon and hiding behind children at the moment of his capture, according to Channel One.

“Did you fire on the hostages?” one of the military asked him.

His eyes wide open with fear, he insisted in strongly accented Russian: “By Allah, I have not shot,” and “By Allah, I have not killed.”

Pressed why he had not had pity on the children, held for 51 hours without food or water in stifling heat, he replied desperately: “Yes, I did have pity, I have children too.”

“They [the commando’s leaders] told us: ‘If the hostages start to flee, fire on them’, but then they said: ‘Fire into the air’,” he added.

“I swear, I didn’t want to die! By Allah, I don’t want to die!” the man repeated wildly.

The television footage briefly showed some of the bodies of the dead hostage-takers, some with disfigured faces and long beards.

According to investigators, the captured man has been very cooperative: he notably gave all the names of his accomplices and described in detail the preparations of the hostage raid, the world’s most deadly in recent history.

“He is ready to answer all questions providing we don’t hand him over to the families of his victims,” the television commentary said.

A bearded journalist mistaken for one of the hostage-takers in the chaos during the bloody end of the hostage crisis on Friday narrowly escaped with his life thanks to police when a mob seized hold of him and started beating him to death.

Anti-terror coalition

Meanwhile, reports Steve Weizman, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is visiting Israel, on Monday welcomed Israel’s offer of help in combating militant groups, but said any counter-terrorism alliance would not be exclusive and would have to include Arab countries.

Speaking to Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres at the start of a day of meetings, Lavrov said terrorism is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community.

“We appreciate the very strong readiness of the Israeli people to help Russia at this hour and this will certainly strengthen the counter-terrorist coalition these days,” he said.

“We certainly are taking into account the need to be more effective,” he told reporters during a visit to President Moshe Katsav.

In a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed expanded intelligence coordination between the two countries.

However, Lavrov was careful to point out that Israel is one of several countries with which Russia coordinates on security issues, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and other Arab states.

“Terrorism doesn’t have any nationalities,” he said. “I believe the key to the solution of the problem is to bring all countries to fight terror and I can assure you that in addition to our very close counter-terrorist cooperation with Israel, we have similar counter-terrorist cooperation with Arab countries.”

The Israeli daily Haaretz said Israel is likely to offer its well-developed rehabilitation facilities to Russian children injured in the Beslan school siege.

News of the hostage-taking at the school in southern Russia resonated in Israel, where about one million people, or one-sixth of the population, immigrated from the former Soviet Union.

Since the September 11 2001 attack on United States targets, the Israeli government has portrayed its own battle with Palestinian militants as part of a larger global war against terrorism. Palestinians say attacks by militants on Israeli civilians should be seen in the context of Israel’s 37-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel suffered its own school tragedy in 1974 when Palestinian gunmen killed 20 high-school students in a cross-border raid from Lebanon into the northern Israeli city of Maalot.

Lavrov arrived on Sunday evening from Egypt for a one-day visit to Israel, part of a Mideast tour that will also take in Lebanon and Syria. Later on Monday he was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Israeli government officials said Lavrov’s visit was set up long before the latest wave of militant violence in Russia. But following the school siege, a suicide bombing and the August 24 bombing of two Russian passenger planes, the subject of a combined international counter-terrorist offensive moved to the top of the agenda, they said.

Israeli officials said that during the meeting with Lavrov, they will voice concerns about Syria’s support for Palestinian militants.

Israeli leaders have accused Syria of involvement in a suicide bombing last week that killed 16 people in the Israeli city of Beersheba. Lavrov heads for the Syrian capital on Monday evening. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP