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240 children taken hostage
01/09/2004 11:03 - (SA)
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| Special forces soldiers evacuate a little girl and a woman, apparently after they escaped from the school seized by attackers in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia. (RTR, Russian Television, via APTN, AP)
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Moscow - A group of armed men seized a school in a village in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, taking hostage around 240 children and 40 parents and teachers.
The school is situated in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia close to Chechnya, Russian television quoted local authorities as saying.
The men opened fire on police, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.
At least three people have been killed, ITAR-TASS has reported, citing local authorities.
Local authorities have opened talks after the hostage-takers called for rebels arrested in a nearby region to be freed, Interfax reported.
The men have apparently threatened to blow up the building if police storm it.
The well-armed group of hostage takers, which reportedly include women wearing belts laden with explosives, passed a note with the threat to police outside, the Interfax news agency said.
"Police units and interior ministry troops are currently going to the school," said the top Kremlin official in the republic, Vladimir Yakovlev.
Interfax quoted the interior ministry as saying that 17 armed men were involved in the operation. Local authorities in the regional capital Vladikavkaz said shooting was continuing and one of the armed men had been killed.
North Ossetia is located close to the rebellious Muslim republic of Chechnya. The school's pupils, aged between seven and 17, were attending the first day of the new academic year in Russia.
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