Religion of Peace Kidnaps 200 Schoolchildren
Charles Johnson
Wed Sep 1, 2004 at 7:19 am PDT • Views: 257
Gunmen take scores hostage at southern Russia school.
MOSCOW (AFP) - Gunmen with explosives strapped around their waists took more than 200 people hostage at a school in southern Russia near war-torn Chechnya and threatened to blow up the building if the security forces moved in.
In Russia’s fourth terror attack within a week, the 20 masked and heavily armed individuals dressed in black burst into the courtyard of the school in the town of Beslan where students were lining up for their first day in school at 10:00 am (0600 GMT).
“Three people ran into the courtyard,” one boy told NTV television. “At first I thought it was a joke. Then they began to shoot and we started running.”
The hostage-takers, who reportedly included women, herded the children and adults into a gym and reportedly demanded to meet with the head of the local region of North Ossetia and neighboring Ingushetia, ITAR-TASS reported.
At least two people were killed and nine were injured as a result of the attack, media reported quoting local officials.
North Ossetia’s interior minister, Kazbek Dzantiev, said the hostage-takers had threatened to kill 50 children for every abductor killed, news reports said.
“For every destroyed rebel, they will kill 50 children, and 20 children for every injured rebel,” he was quoted as saying by news agencies and television.
UPDATE at 9/1/04 8:19:45 am:
Stan at Logic & Sanity speaks Russian, and is updating this story frequently with translations from Russian newswires.
Frank says: