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Journalism of Courage
The dramatic, three-day stand off between Chechen gunmen and Russian special forces ended today minutes before the dawn deadline set by the terrorists.
Russian special forces, using gas to knock out Chechen guerrillas, stormed the theatre early on Saturday that left up to 90 hostages dead. Nearly all the 50 rebels were killed, including 18 women, according to FSB security service officials.
More than 750 people, held since Wednesday by the heavily armed Muslim guerrillas, were rescued, Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said. News agencies quoted the health ministry as saying more than 90 hostages had died.
All 75 foreigners, three of them American, were rescued. President Vladimir Putin called at one of Moscow’s top hospitals where he chatted to some of the survivors.
In freezing rain, the hostages were ferried out of the theatre, many to hospital and away from journalists. By Saturday morning, the red theatre seats were empty except for a few black-clad bodies of dead Chechen guerrillas.
The rebels, who had rigged up explosives throughout the building, had threatened to start killing their hostages early on Saturday if they did not see their demands of Moscow troops’ pullout from Chechnya being met.
Some relatives of hostages said they had been terrified when they knew troops would storm the theatre. ‘‘All of us were of the opinion that the storming would be unacceptable. We were amazed that this could happen, without (many) casualties,’’ said the father of one girl who had been among the hostages. She survived.(With agency inputs)
