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Thursday, 24 October, 2002, 11:25 GMT 12:25 UK
Chechens release more hostages
![]() Russian troops were warned not to fire at hostages
The Chechen rebels holding up to 800 people hostage in a Moscow theatre have reportedly released five more people.
One of those freed is thought to be a foreigner, although earlier attempts to release up to 30 Westerners appear to have been delayed.
Three Britons are reported to be among the hostages, along with seven Germans, four Americans, two Canadians, two Austrians and two Dutch citizens. Ambassadors from several countries are now at the scene.
The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Moscow says the rebels have succeeded in drawing world attention back to their cause - the suffering of the Chechen people during almost a decade of warfare.
Click here for a map of the area
Separatists in the mainly Muslim region have waged two wars against Russia including the current three-year guerrilla campaign, and some groups have been involved in hostage-taking.
Explosion
From all levels of authority in Russia there are calls for restraint, for Russians to avoid revenge attacks on Chechens who live or work in Moscow.
The rebels freed three children and five women on Thursday.
There are reports that at least two Russian TV camera crews are being allowed into the building.
In mobile phone calls made to Russian TV before the phones were removed by the rebels, hostages said they were being treated relatively well.
Earlier, the hostage-takers' leader, Movsar Barayev, said they were a Chechen "suicide" unit demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The rebels told Kavkaz-Centre they had shot a woman Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who tried to enter the theatre, ignoring their warnings. Humiliation Our correspondent says the crisis is a major humiliation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has cancelled a planned visit to Germany and Portugal.
There is said to be anger and bewilderment, with many Muscovites asking why Mr Putin has given no reassurances or comfort. There has, however, been reaction from the United States. Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed the hope that the "tragic situation" would be resolved peacefully. Two Russian politicians of Chechen extraction, Aslanbek Aslakhanov and Ruslan Khasbulatov, tried to mediate overnight but made no progress. A senior Russian Government official, Alexei Volin, said the security forces had two priorities: to save the hostages and make no concessions to the attackers. But the Russian authorities have reportedly told the rebels that they will guarantee them safe passage to another country if all the hostages are freed unharmed. Confirming that the FSB had made contact with the group, Mr Volin rejected the idea that the hostage-takers could seriously force a withdrawal from Chechnya: "Hostage-taking does not stop wars, it fans them even further." Appeals One woman hostage, Tatyana Solnyshkina, told Russian TV that the attackers were ready to kill 10 hostages for any one of their number killed if the security forces intervened.
Another, heart specialist Maria Shkolnikova, called for international intervention to end the crisis. "We need the international community to get involved in this situation and we need journalists to take part in this with no arms," she said. "Please, do not storm the building," she said, adding that the attackers had a "very large amount of explosives". Other witnesses who either escaped or were freed by the rebels described seeing men and women with explosives strapped to their bodies and wielding assault rifles.
The rebels are believed to have freed about 200 people, including women, children, Muslims and some foreigners, Russian police say. The attackers' leader, a nephew of the late Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev, said he and his "mujahideen" gunmen and 20 Chechen women were "suicide attackers" who had come to Moscow "not to survive, but to die". "Nobody will get out of here alive and they will die along with us if any attempt is made to storm the building," Movsar Barayev told Kavkaz-Centre by telephone. But a spokesman for the official Chechen rebel leadership, Aslanbek Khadiev, said: "We condemn any terrorist attacks against civilians". |
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