From CNN, aren't these people just plain evil? I can't imagine anyone doing this.
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Armed attackers have seized a school in southern Russia and are holding hostage more than 100 people, many of them children.
The hostage-takers released 15 children several hours later, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, though no further details were immediately available.
The siege began on Wednesday when students, teachers and parents assembled for the first day of classes were forced inside the building.
Some of the more than a dozen hostage-takers in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia are reportedly wearing explosives belts used in suicide bombings.
The attackers warned they would blow up the primary school if police tried to storm it and forced children to stand at the windows, Alexei Polyansky, a police spokesman for southern Russia, told The Associated Press.
They also demanded talks with local officials over the release of fighters detained in connection with a series of attacks on police facilities in neighboring Ingushetia in June, ITAR-Tass reported, citing regional officials.
Video of the scene from Russian Television showed Russian forces stationed near the school, some of them behind a tank, as the sound of gunfire could be heard.
A young girl and an older woman ran into the camera's view and were led to safety by the armed forces.
Russian news reports said about 50 students managed to escape, some after hiding in the school's boiler room during the raid.
Beslan is located 19 miles (30 km) north of Vladikavkaz in southern Russia, which borders the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
The seizure of the school comes a day after a female suicide bomber killed nine people and herself, and wounded 51 others when she detonated a bomb outside a subway station in northeastern Moscow. (Full story)
Authorities did not immediately say if the female bomber was Chechen.
The bombing marked the second major terrorist attack on Russia in a week, following the near simultaneous attacks on two Russian airliners by what authorities believe were two Chechen women suicide bombers. Eighty-nine people died in the crashes on August 24. (Full story)
For the second time in a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted his working holiday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and returned to Moscow.
In an interview with CNN sister network CNN Turk, Putin Wednesday linked the country's recent terror attacks to Chechen rebels and al Qaeda.
"Two civilian planes were crashed by terrorist gangs that had links to the al Qaeda," Putin said from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
"Separatists in northen Caucasus are acting not in line with the Chechen people, but for their own filthy interests. They have links with international terrorism."
Authorities have said traces of the explosive hexogen were found in the wreckage of both planes.
Hexogen, when mixed with nitroglycerin, forms a plastic explosive similar to C4 and has been used by Chechen rebels in attacks on Russian soil in the past.
Chechen rebels -- who refused to take part in Chechen elections held Sunday and vowed to take their fight to Russian soil -- have denied responsibility.
But many Russian politicians are already linking them to Tuesday's suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the elections in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.
Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas in Chechnya since 1994.
Female Chechen suicide bombers are known in Russia as "black widows."
In October 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theater and took about 800 hostages.
After a three-day siege, Russian forces stormed the building using gas, killing most of the rebels and 120 hostages. (Timeline of attacks)
Sajjan Gohel, Director of International Security at the Asia Pacific Foundation, told CNN Wednesday's hostage-taking was a "major escalation" by militants.
"It seems that the militants are raising the stakes substantially. The Chechen militants' strategy is no longer just to engage Russian troops in Chechnya but to take it into Russia itself," he said.
"They have become very successful in that. They have been able to entrench themselves in Russia."
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Armed attackers have seized a school in southern Russia and are holding hostage more than 100 people, many of them children.
The hostage-takers released 15 children several hours later, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, though no further details were immediately available.
The siege began on Wednesday when students, teachers and parents assembled for the first day of classes were forced inside the building.
Some of the more than a dozen hostage-takers in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia are reportedly wearing explosives belts used in suicide bombings.
The attackers warned they would blow up the primary school if police tried to storm it and forced children to stand at the windows, Alexei Polyansky, a police spokesman for southern Russia, told The Associated Press.
They also demanded talks with local officials over the release of fighters detained in connection with a series of attacks on police facilities in neighboring Ingushetia in June, ITAR-Tass reported, citing regional officials.
Video of the scene from Russian Television showed Russian forces stationed near the school, some of them behind a tank, as the sound of gunfire could be heard.
A young girl and an older woman ran into the camera's view and were led to safety by the armed forces.
Russian news reports said about 50 students managed to escape, some after hiding in the school's boiler room during the raid.
Beslan is located 19 miles (30 km) north of Vladikavkaz in southern Russia, which borders the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
The seizure of the school comes a day after a female suicide bomber killed nine people and herself, and wounded 51 others when she detonated a bomb outside a subway station in northeastern Moscow. (Full story)
Authorities did not immediately say if the female bomber was Chechen.
The bombing marked the second major terrorist attack on Russia in a week, following the near simultaneous attacks on two Russian airliners by what authorities believe were two Chechen women suicide bombers. Eighty-nine people died in the crashes on August 24. (Full story)
For the second time in a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted his working holiday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and returned to Moscow.
In an interview with CNN sister network CNN Turk, Putin Wednesday linked the country's recent terror attacks to Chechen rebels and al Qaeda.
"Two civilian planes were crashed by terrorist gangs that had links to the al Qaeda," Putin said from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
"Separatists in northen Caucasus are acting not in line with the Chechen people, but for their own filthy interests. They have links with international terrorism."
Authorities have said traces of the explosive hexogen were found in the wreckage of both planes.
Hexogen, when mixed with nitroglycerin, forms a plastic explosive similar to C4 and has been used by Chechen rebels in attacks on Russian soil in the past.
Chechen rebels -- who refused to take part in Chechen elections held Sunday and vowed to take their fight to Russian soil -- have denied responsibility.
But many Russian politicians are already linking them to Tuesday's suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the elections in which a Kremlin-backed candidate won the presidency.
Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas in Chechnya since 1994.
Female Chechen suicide bombers are known in Russia as "black widows."
In October 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theater and took about 800 hostages.
After a three-day siege, Russian forces stormed the building using gas, killing most of the rebels and 120 hostages. (Timeline of attacks)
Sajjan Gohel, Director of International Security at the Asia Pacific Foundation, told CNN Wednesday's hostage-taking was a "major escalation" by militants.
"It seems that the militants are raising the stakes substantially. The Chechen militants' strategy is no longer just to engage Russian troops in Chechnya but to take it into Russia itself," he said.
"They have become very successful in that. They have been able to entrench themselves in Russia."
