The junkie stations cut to Moscow now and then. Latest reports are that some of the hostages tried to break out, gunfire and explosions occurred and Russian Special Forces have gone into the theater. Heavy casualties are said to be expected.

(Just tuned in, been glued to The Forsythe Saga.)

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2002

Answers

11:20 PM - BBC is reporting "hundreds dead."

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2002

Chechen hostage-takers start killing hostages in Moscow theater: news media

Friday, October 25, 2002

(10-25) 19:57 PDT MOSCOW (AP) --

Chechen rebels holding hundreds of captives have started killing hostages, Russian news agencies reported early Saturday after a series of explosions and gunfire were heard in the area.

A group of soldiers with guns drawn ran toward a Moscow theater and more explosions and heavy gunfire were heard as a couple of people were seen running from the theater.

Special forces troops were sent to help save the captives, Federal Security Service spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said, according to Interfax news agency.

Two women have been freed and were inside the command center handling the crisis, he said.

Minutes earlier, a Russian official said that two hostages had been killed and two wounded. He did not say who had killed them.

Pavel Kudryavtsev, an official at a command center handling the crisis, said that after an initial unsuccessful try, officials established contact with the hostage-takers by telephone.

The hostage-takers had threatened to begin killing their captives by sunrise Saturday if their demands for Russia's withdrawal from Chechnya weren't met.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2002

Saturday, 26 October, 2002, 03:33 GMT 04:33 UK

Russian forces storm Moscow theatre

Russian security forces have stormed a Moscow theatre where Chechen rebels were holding hundreds hostage and have begun freeing those inside, officials say.

There are also reports that several of the Chechen hostage-takers have been taken out of the building with their hands behind their backs.

The Chechen leader who headed the theatre raid, Movsar Barayev, was also reported to have been killed by the Russian forces.

Around 20 bodies - it is unclear whether they were hostages or victims - were seen being removed from the theatre, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Dozens of ambulances and buses are rushing to the scene.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2002

Gunmen Taken Out of Theater, Doctors Remove Dead

October 25, 2002 11:20 PM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Gunmen who were holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater were being taken out of the building with their hands behind their backs, Interfax news agency said Saturday.

A Reuters photographer saw many hostages leaving the building and apparently dead people being carried out.

A dozen emergency vehicles rushed up to the front of the building along with an empty bus. A car packed with women and children was seen driving quickly away from the scene.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2002

The russians said they weren't good at such situations so expect dead hostages.

On the upswing, sounds like a few for the executioner.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002

"Only" 65 killed, "some losses" among Russian troops. Fox is reporting that "sleeping gas" was introduced into the theater to effect the rescue. I suspect that this incident will give Russia the justification to crack down in Chechnya.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002

Russian Official: 67 Hostages Died

Oct 26, 5:34 AM (ET)

(AP) Interior Ministry rescue workers carry the body of an unidentified person taken out of the theater... Full Image

MOSCOW (AP) - Sixty-seven of the hostages held in a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels for several days died during the ordeal, the deputy interior minister said Saturday.

More than 750 hostages were saved, Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said Saturday, several hours after Russian special forces stormed the theater.

He said 34 of the approximately 50 hostage-takers were killed and he confirmed that a special gas was used to knock out everyone in the theater and allow the rescue operation to proceed.

No children were among the dead, Vasilyev said.

News reports said President Valdimir Putin went to one of the Moscow hospitals where hundreds of freed hostages were taken by bus and ambulance.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002