BESLAN, Russia, September 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Over 100 hostages were killed, 300 others injured Friday, September 3, when Russian Special Forces stormed a school seized by kidnappers in North Ossetia, according to news reports.

Some 13 of the estimated 20-30 kidnappers fled the school after the bloody bust, in what experts saw as a further indicator of the failure of the thrust of Russian forces, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera said, citing its correspondent in the southern Russia region.

The correspondent said that some children are still entrapped inside the school, contradicting earlier claims of Russian officials that all hostages were released after the operation.

There were conflicting reports of the number of hostages, with officials saying about 350 and people among a small group freed Wednesday, September 1, saying there were about 1,500.

Officials said before the shooting broke out that they were not for the moment contemplating use of force to end the standoff and it was unclear how the violence began Friday.

Only minutes before the bloody operation went under way, President of Northern Ossentia state, scene of the school crisis, told the families of hostages that military solutions for the crisis were ruled out by Moscow, at that stage.

The hostage takers were still exchanging fire with security forces from part of the building, ITAR-TASS news agency reported, citing a regional police official.

"Three members of the extremist group," are stuck in the cellar of the building "and are continuing to shoot," the police official told the agency.

"According to our information, it is the head of the group and two of his men," he added. The shots was audible from outside the building, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Interfax news agency earlier said that at least 10 of the hostage takers were killed by gunfire in the fighting.

Eyewitnesses quoted by Russian news agencies said some of the hostage-takers attempted to flee with the escaping children and were immediately fired upon by special forces around the building.

Russian special forces are looking for 13 abductors after they stormed the school, ITAR-TASS reported, citing the regional interior ministry.

Hostages inside the school were reportedly released

Interfax news agency, quoting the local crisis cell, said the roof of the southern Russian school collapsed during the operation, and nearly an hour after the violence erupted sporadic shooting continued.

Women escaping the building were seen fainting and others, some covered in blood, were carried away on stretchers. Many children were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gymnasium where they had been held since the armed men and women , some strapped with explosives, took the building Wednesday.

A number of children, some of them bleeding, were carried by adults who ran and whisked them into cars waiting nearby while special forces troops backed by armored vehicles provided cover for them.

Minutes before hell broke out North Ossentia president told the concerned family members that the hostage-takers had demanded independence for Chechnya.

"The demands relayed yesterday to Aushev were that Chechnya has to be an independent state, Chechnya has to be outside Russia," Alexander Dzasokhov, the president of North Ossetia, told families in a private meeting.

He was referring to Ruslan Aushev, a respected regional politician who led negotiations Thursday, September 2, on the crisis, now in its third day.

Some Russian analysts said the kidnappers might not be Chechen separatists.

"They could be criminals who had served terms in Ossetia, which also suffering under the yoke of rising unemployment," a Russian general told Al-Jazeera.

The Russian government is reportedly gaining for quickly pointing the finger at fighters from Chechnya, a breakaway predominatly-Muslim region where Russian forces faced repeated public calls to withdraw.

Blaming Chechen fighters does serve Moscow to paint Chechen fighters - putting up fierce resistance to Russian soldiers in Chechnya - as terrorists who should be crushed out.

Moscow has refused to withdraw from Chechnya, as human rights groups have accused Russian soldiers of committing aggressions and abuses in the republic during the two massive invasions.

Russia asked the UN Security Council for a meeting on the crisis Wednesday. The world body issued a tough condemnation and demanded the immediate release of the hostages.

Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in August 1996 and the second began in October 1999.

At least 100,000 civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.