200 Russian Schoolchildren Taken Hostage

[Nomi]

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Armed attackers on Wednesday took at least 200 schoolchildren hostage in the southern Russian province of North Ossetia, Itar-Tass news agency quoted local officials as saying.

Interfax news agency quoted local police as saying women and men wearing belts of explosives were among the attackers in the Ossetian town of Bislan, not far from the rebel province of Chechnya.

A gunbattle broke out with police near the building after the assault on the school. It said at least one man had been killed in the shootout.

The agency said the gunmen may also have attacked a second school, but other agencies did not confirm this.

The gunmen staged their attack on the first day of the new school year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy in the region said: "At the moment police are being called to the scene. It is not immediately clear how many schoolchildren and parents have been taken.

"There is a shootout in the area," the envoy, Vladimir Yakovlev said.

It's one thing to attack a political office or country center, but taking little kids hostage is just a low hit. Someone mentioned elsewhere that it's an Islamic suicide-bomber group doing this but there isn't any clear confirmation.

[station82o]

yeah - i've been keeping up with this. Today some of the hostages were released but the situation still goes on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3623088.stm

[Gohron]

They're probably Chechyn terrorists, they had that hostage situation with the opera house or something last year and the Russians filled the place with sleeping gas then killed most of the (sleeping) terrorists when they raided. Not a good idea to mess with the Russian police, these religious fundamentalist terrorist groups seem to be getting dumber and dumber.

I hope the situation turns out ok and all the children make it out safely.

[MechDeus]

I just wanted I misread a headline from a newspaper earlier today and thought it said "Mutants Hold Russian Schoolchilren Hostage." It actually said "Militants" but I had some wierd thoughts about the X-Men for a second.

[station82o]

They're probably Chechyn terrorists, they had that hostage situation with the opera house or something last year and the Russians filled the place with sleeping gas then killed most of the (sleeping) terrorists when they raided. Not a good idea to mess with the Russian police, these religious fundamentalist terrorist groups seem to be getting dumber and dumber.

I hope the situation turns out ok and all the children make it out safely.

yeah but in doing that weren't 120 hostages killed as well from the gas... or am i thinking of something else?

[Gohron]

yeah but in doing that weren't 120 hostages killed as well from the gas... or am i thinking of something else?

I think you're thinking of something else, the gas they used wasn't deadly but I could be wrong, although I'm pretty sure I'm not.

[Ryan]

no, they killed most of the hostages too.

[Brisco Bold]

They actually did kill the hostages with the gas. The gas was more lethal than they let on.

EDIT: Whoops.

[g0zen]

It wasn't the gas, it was mostly the bungled post-op. They had plenty of instant antidotes for the gas on hand, but not enough medics to distribute it. Also, sleeping hostages were left outside face up in the pouring rain, leaving many to drown or choke on their own vomit. There was a whole documentary about this incident on HBO, I encourage anyone interested to OnDemand it.

The Russian armed forces are very effective, but always seem to get a lot of collateral damage. That is partly why the Chechens are so desperate in their tactics. I would go so far as to saw the Chechens are more willing to die than even Palestinians, because they know that after every one of these terrorist attacks on Russia the retribution is going to harsh, swift, and covered it up quickly (another Russian specialty).

These terrorists are basically killing themselves, their families, and the families of many of their countrymen just to try and secure the release of a few of their leadership. I heard the Russians have already offered them some pretty reasonable deals, including full internationally supervised agreement to let the terrorists return peacefully back to Chechneya if they disarm the bombs and release all the hostages. Normally, that sort of deal would never be extended by the very autocratic and hardline Putin, but with all these children's lives at stake I can more than see why he did it. Unfortunately, they declined.

This is a bad situation for everyone involved.

[Drewbacca]

They stormed the building when some hostages tried to escape and were shot at from windows. The roof contained a bomb in it that was detonated when the Russian forces were forced to enter the building due to the gunfire and it's estimated that 100 people, students and teachers, have been killed and are lying dead in the gymnasism.

It's sad. What's more sad is that CNN, which would be covering this for 2 weeks non-stop seems to be more enthralled with the Republican Convention and the Hurricane. That's sickening.