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One of the hostage-takers, killed by
gas
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MOSCOW,
October 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – It’s
likely that special forces storming the Moscow theatre building, where
Chechen fighters held hostages, used some soporific to neutralize the
"terrorists", the Russian Pravda newspaper Saturday, October
26, quoted NEWSru.COM, commenting on the video shot on the attack scene
demonstrated on the Russian ORT television.
The
video demonstrated the "terrorists", camouflaged men and women
of Caucasian appearance strapped with explosives, said the paper.
Judging
by the poses of their bodies, the "terrorists" were killed
asleep, stressed the Russian paper.
Interfax reported that when rescuers of the Russian Ministry for
Internal Affairs entered the theatre hall in half an hour after the
storm, they saw dozens of unconscious people in the stalls, the dress
circle and everywhere in the hall, said the paper.
Commander
of the operative rescue service from the Russian Ministry for Internal
Affairs Anatoly Belousov claimed: “The people are shocked because of
the stress and overfatigue, their faces are white.”
It
is also reported that all hostages were evacuated from the building at
about 9:00 a.m. All people have been sent to Moscow hospitals for
rehabilitation.
Some
of the hostages, who died during the theater storming, may have been
poisoned by gas Russian special forces released into the building to
disable Chechen fighters, Moscow Echo radio reported.
Several
hostages may have choked on their own vomit, a likely effect of the gas,
the radio station quoted doctors as saying.
Up
to Sixty-seven hostages died as Russian special forces stormed the
theatre to end a three-day hostage crisis, Deputy Interior Minister
Vladimir Vasilyev said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
The
special forces rescued 750 hostages, Vasilyev said of the dawn attack in
which 34 hostage-takers died.
Two
of the rescued hostages earlier said there had been a strong smell of
gas inside the building shortly before the storming began.
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Killed by toxic
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"Gas
was injected into the theatre and we were hoping that this wasn't going
to end up like the Kursk," Natasha Skobtseva said, referring to the
Russian nuclear submarine that sank in the Bering Sea in August 2000,
with the loss of all 118 men on board.
Anya,
another hostage, said they "could sense that the special forces
were starting the assault. I don't know what the gas was. I thought:
they don't want us to get out of here. We're all going to die."
Moments
later, an intense burst of gunfire was heard.
"We
understood: it was our people. It came from outside. Our government had
decided that no one should get out alive."
An
actor, who was among the freed hostages, said the special forces broke
into the building after blasting a hole in the side.
Many
of the 349 hostages hospitalized, after they were freed by Russian
forces, are in a serious condition, a hospital spokesman said.
None
of them were expected to be sent home Saturday, the Interfax news agency
quoted the spokesman as saying.
Chechen
commandos had links to several foreign embassies in the Russian capital,
an official with the FSB intelligence agency told the Interfax news
agency.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry will investigate the links, the official added,
without specifying which embassies were involved.
Hostage-takers
also had contacts abroad, he said.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday October 24, that the
hostage-taking was planned from "foreign terrorist centers."
Moscow
has also accused its southern neighbor Georgia of turning a blind eye to
the activities of Chechen rebels on its territory.
Earlier
Saturday, the hundreds of surviving captives fled the building after
several tense hours punctuated by explosions and gunfire, during which
the fighter group's leader was also killed.
Witnesses
said some of the surviving hostage-takers were led out into the street
by security forces.
The
Chechen fighters, numbering around 50, had said they were ready to die
for their cause.
Deputy
Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said "a small number" of
the hostage-takers may have escaped.
Russian
television showed the blood-caked bodies of Chechen fighters who had
been killed during the operation, including black-robed women who had
worn explosives strapped to their bodies.
The
Interfax correspondent on the scene said he saw several detained
fighters being led out of the theatre.
"A
number of terrorists have been killed, others taken prisoner," said
Sergei Ignachenko, spokesman for the FSB security service.
Another
official said security forces were looking for some remaining
hostage-takers "who may have changed their clothes and may have
mingled with hostages."
The
Moscow theatre was now entirely under the control of Russian security
forces and the fighters' leader, Movsar Barayev, was among those killed,
he added.
There
were no casualties among Russian special forces who took part in the
operation, officials said.
Freed
hostages were seen through the windows of buses leaving the area.
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| Russian special forces storm Moscow
theater
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They
looked pale and exhausted, some of them leaning their heads against the
window, and the men were unshaven.
They
were transported to hospital to receive medical evaluations and
psychological assistance.
The
relative success of the operation to free the hostages will be seen as a
victory for President Putin, who refused to cave in to the fighters'
demand to end Russia's three-year war in the southern republic of
Chechnya.
"We
managed to stop them from blowing the theatre up and avoided the mass
death of hostages, including children," said Vasilyev.
The
dramatic events unfolded shortly before a 6:00 am (0200 GMT) deadline
set by the fighters for Putin to comply with their demand, beyond which
they threatened to start killing their hostages.
Ignachenko
said "the explosions occurred inside when the special forces
approached the theatre."
The
operation lasted about 40 minutes, he told ITAR-TASS.
The
heavily armed Chechen fighters seized the theatre in southeast Moscow
late Wednesday, October 23, during a performance of a hit musical,
taking the entire audience hostage, including several dozen foreigners.
They
reportedly set up a bomb inside and mined the building, and vowed there
would be a bloodbath if Russian soldiers tried to force their way in.
Russian
mediators tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers in the days
following, while Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders workers were
allowed to visit the captives.
After
the initial releases of around 30 captives, most of them women and
children, conditions deteriorated for the remaining hostages and media
allowed to enter the theatre reported that the rebels appeared very
determined to carry out their threats.
