School hostage drama: 9 dead

2004-09-01 16:59

Moscow - Nine people were killed on Wednesday after gunmen took scores of people hostage at a school in southern Russia near war-torn Chechnya, news agencies reported.

Eight civilians and one hostage-taker died as a result of the raid, Russia's fourth terror attack in a week.

There were no children among the casualties, ITAR-TASS quoted a law enforcement official from the crisis unit set up to deal with the hostage-taking as saying.

"One civilian and one of the hostage-takers were killed when the building was first stormed," the news agency quoted the official as saying.

Seven civilians died of their injuries at hospital, RIA Novosti and ITAR-TASS said.

The earlier toll said two people were killed and nine were injured after a masked armed group burst into the school on the first day of classes and herded the pupils, along with teachers and their parents, inside.

There were conflicting reports as to how many hostages were inside the building, with North Ossetia's interior minister, Kazbek Dzantiev, saying the number was "probably somewhere between 300 and 400."

- AFP