Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 26, 2002
Hostages Freed, Rebels Killed or Detained in Moscow
All the hundreds of hostages detained by Chechen rebels were freed Saturday when Russian special forces stormed a Moscow theatre and killed 36 hostage-takers and detained others.
All the hundreds of hostages detained by Chechen rebels were freed Saturday when Russian special forces stormed a Moscow theatre and killed 36 hostage-takers and detained others.
Hostage-takers' chief Movsar Barayev was also killed, Interfax reported.
About 10 hostages had been killed, according to the news agency.
Sergei Ignatchenko, spokesman for Russian the Federal Security Service (FSB), said Saturday that Russian special forces have finished its rescue operation and taken complete control of a Moscow theater where about 700 people were held hostage by a gang of Chechen gunmen
An official speaking for the emergency center overseeing the hostage rescue operation said bombs planted by the rebels in the theater have been defused.
He said a considerable proportion of the hostages had left the building and others were receiving medical assistance.
A search is under way for terrorists who may have changed theirclothes and may have mingled with hostages, he added.
Ignatchenko said the operation was carried after the terroristsbegan to kill hostages on early Saturday.
Gunmen shot dead two more of the captives on Saturday morning.