Do note that Arabs are among the dead ...
Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding hundreds of hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. An official said the death toll could be more than 150. Three of the separatist rebels were reportedly still blockaded in a school basement, trading fire with security forces. A Federal Security Service official said militants were still holding hostages hours after much of the school was secured. Ten militants were killed in the violence, including nine Arabs, an aide to President Vladimir Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency.
| Fox News put the number at 20 a few minutes ago... |
It was a chaotic climax to the hostage standoff that began Wednesday morning when up to two dozen militants, some with explosives strapped to their bodies, stormed the school. The militants, who were demanding independence for nearby Chechnya, kept up to 1,500 hostages — mostly women and children — in the sweltering gymnasium, refusing to let in food or water. After the hostage-takers fled, more than 100 bodies were found in the gymnasium, some apparently killed when part of the school's roof collapsed in an explosion early in the day's violence. The presidential aide said the total death toll could be singificantly more than 150 people. Some 520 people were wounded, health officials said.
| 520 wounded out of 350 hostages is a fairly high ratio... |
The regional health minister earlier reported that at least 218 children were wounded. Security forces did not plan to storm the building, officials said, but were prompted when the hostage-takers set off explosions early Friday afternoon, opened fire on fleeing hostages then began to try to escape. Gunfire rang out for hours as security forces chased hostage-takers, who split up to flee. Interfax and the ITAR-Tass news agency reported the three militants holed up in the basement may include the head of the group.
| They mean the immediate head of the group, not Basayev or Maskhadov... |
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