Chechen forces free 2 hostages

Chechen security forces on Thursday freed two Armenian women who were held hostage in the southern Russian republic, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

The commander of a team dealing with hostages, Magomed Magomadov, said a man and women who allegedly organized the abduction and demanded a 1-million dollar ransom have been detained.

Magomadov said the authorities were taking a tougher line on hostage-takers.

The agency did not identify the hostages or say when they were abducted.

It said the women were to be handed over to representatives of Armenia today.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.