Questions raised over Moscow siege

Russians want to know why the siege was not prevented

By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC correspondent in Moscow

There is an enormous sense of relief among the Muscovites, but awkward questions are being asked as to how this terrible ordeal could have happened in the first place.

Surely, they say, such a large and well-planned operation must have caught the eye of the security services.

Authorities warned of an underground network of extremists

The Russian Deputy Interior Minister, Vladimir Vasilyev, was circumspect.

"Let's wait for the investigation results," he told reporters.

But he acknowledged there was an extensive underground network of extremists operating in Moscow.

About 30 people have been detained and were being questioned by police, he said.

Extremists had contacts with several foreign embassies in Moscow, said Mr Vasilyev.

Security stepped up

The minister urged people to be vigilant and report anyone acting suspiciously to police.

Security has been stepped up across Moscow

Patrols are everywhere in Moscow, performing identity checks on the buses, in the metro system, at road junctions.

They are out in force at the gates of several hospitals where the survivors of the siege are being treated for shock and gas poisoning.

Desperate relatives are besieging the hospital with inquiries about of their loved ones.

But the doctors have been ordered to keep quiet about the nature of their patients' injuries.

Knocked out

The special forces pumped some kind of gas into the auditorium to incapacitate the rebels who had plastic explosives strapped to their bodies, ready to blow themselves up.

Judging from the pictures shown on Russian television they might have been killed in their sleep.

Russian TV showed pictures of rebels slumped in their seats

Some appear to have died of asphyxiation.

The rebel leader's body was shown lying on the floor littered with ammunition and rubbish, a bottle of cognac from the theatre's bar planted neatly in his hand.

Russian media claimed he was an drunkard, like all his family.

His men were high on drugs and the women smelled of alcohol, a hostage told journalists.

The authorities initially maintained than none of the officially confirmed deaths among the hostages occurred through gas poisoning.

They spoke of health problems that were exacerbated by the three day ordeal with very little food or water, or indeed, medical attention.

But experts believe that to incapacitate the hostage-takers quickly enough before they could detonate the explosives the gas concentration must have been fairly strong.

For some of the weaker hostages that might have proved too much.

Spotlight on Chechnya

In a televised address to the nation President Vladimir Putin, visibly distraught, asked for forgiveness for failing to save all the hostages.

He said the cruel enemy failed to bring Russia to its knees.

But many people are fearful this may happen again, unless peace is brought to Chechnya.

The hostage takers, however hated and despised, have succeeded in one thing.

They have brought the long forgotten war in Chechnya back into the public eye, and it is certain to stay there until a long-term solution is found.