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Russian Soldiers Carry Child Hostages to Safety

<<Media reports said a woman freed together with a small child went back into the school to remain with two of her children still in captivity. - real courage >>

By Richard Ayton

BESLAN, Russia (Reuters) - Russian soldiers carried terrified babies and children to safety on Thursday from a school seized by armed militants, but hundreds of captives faced a second night with little or no food or water.

President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), tackling the latest in a series of deadly attacks linked to separatist unrest in Chechnya (news - web sites), vowed he would do all he could to save hundreds of children, parents and teachers herded into the school gym in stifling heat.

Two blasts shook the area around the school early on Friday and plumes of smoke rose. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear, but they were several hundred yards from the building.

Police extended a cordon around the school soon afterwards.

The gunmen, who have threatened to blow up the school in North Ossetia in the turbulent Caucasus region, freed 26 children and women from among at least 350 hostages.

Reuters Television producer Olga Petrova witnessed the release of the children and women, driven off in a car along with the former leader of neighboring Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, who mediated with the hostage-takers.

"It's all over, you're okay," a burly soldier in fatigues, automatic gun slung over his shoulder, whispered as he carried a wailing baby of about three months past an armored vehicle.

He took a seat in Aushev's car. Two other small children were also placed inside, one of them naked and crying.

"Twenty-six people have now been freed, children and women," North Ossetian spokesman Lev Dzugayev said. Another official said those freed included 15 children and 11 women.

WOMAN RETURNS TO CAPTIVITY

Media reports said a woman freed together with a small child went back into the school to remain with two of her children still in captivity.

At least seven people were killed when the gunmen stormed the school. The International Red Cross, quoting Russian colleagues, said up to 16 may have died.

Pediatrician Leonid Roshal, who has also been involved in telephone talks with the gunmen, described the hostage release as a "big victory."

"But if you look at the broader picture, it is a drop in the ocean. There is plenty of work ahead," Roshal told reporters.

The gunmen were still refusing requests to allow food and water into the school, said Roshal.

Media reports said hostages had access to tap water and other supplies which local residents had managed to pass into the building.

Roshal said an unsuccessful end to the crisis could produce "a war between fraternal peoples. I appeal to the wisdom of the Ingush, Ossetian and Chechen peoples to avoid a war. Otherwise thousands of lives will be lost."

The region is populated by Muslims and Christians from different ethnic groups with a history of troubled relations.

Predominantly Orthodox Ossetia is Russia's main base of support against separatist rebels in mostly Muslim neighbor Chechnya. In the early 1990s hundreds were killed in a territorial conflict between Ossetians and the Chechens' ethnic kin, Ingushis.

The gunmen have demanded the release of rebel fighters captured in neighboring Ingushetia in June.

HARD CHOICE FOR PUTIN

Putin, facing one of the hardest choices in 4-1/2 years in the Kremlin, said authorities were focusing on saving lives.

"Our main task is to save the life and health of those who have ended up as hostages," Putin told Jordan's King Abdullah in the Kremlin. "All the actions of our forces ... will be devoted to solving this task."

Valery Andreyev, head of Russia's FSB security service in North Ossetia province, said: "There is no question at the moment of opting for force. There will be a lengthy and tense process of negotiation."

Putin must decide whether to risk a slaughter by following past practice of using troops to end such sieges, or break a long-held vow not to negotiate with terrorists.

He made a similar commitment to do all he could to save hostages in a 2002 Moscow theater siege. When troops stormed the building, 129 hostages and 41 guerrillas were killed.

Russia is in the grip of a spate of attacks authorities say are the work of Chechen separatists. Two passenger planes crashed nearly simultaneously last week, killing 90 people.

Separatist leaders deny any ties with the school group.

Putin put off a visit to Turkey. The hostage-taking and a bombing on Tuesday that killed 10 people outside a Moscow underground station prompted Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to cancel many events linked to this weekend's annual Moscow Day festivities.

Relatives maintained a vigil near the school, pleading with authorities to keep security forces from storming the building.

The mood of residents swung from anxiety to anger against the authorities for bringing calamity on them.

"These children are not to blame if bandits come here. It's the authorities who are to blame. They can't restore order or guard the borders," said Ruslan Tivitov, 27.


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