Hostages die in Moscow operation
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-10-02 AT 04:24 PM (GMT)]MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — Sixty-seven hostages died during an operation to free hundreds of captives held by Chechen rebels in a Moscow theatre and two hostage-takers remain at large, Russian officials have said.
Thirty-four hostage-takers were also killed after Russian special forces, the Federal Security Service, stormed the building at 5.30 a.m. local time on Saturday after the Chechens began executing those being held, Russia’s deputy interior minister, Vladimir Vasilyev, said.
Movsar Barayev, the ringleader of the Chechen group, is confirmed dead and at least two other members of it are being interrogated.
“We are grieving with those close to the 67 hostages who were lost. We couldn’t save them… We saved more than 750 people,” Vasilyev said outside the theatre, adding that there were no children among the dead.
But he said: “Two of the terrorists escaped and we are combing the territory. They are hiding themselves in houses.”
“Up to the last moment — even now — we were afraid there could be a major explosion. This we managed to prevent,” he said. “These people we’re dealing with are real scoundrels. They were constantly giving their threats. They were threatening to start executions which they did. They threated to explode the building.”
Refering to reports that a gas injected into the theatres by special forces ahead of the operation may have contributed to the deaths of some of the hostages, he said: “This is not so.
“Of those who died, some were through stress, hunger and lack of medical supplies that they needed.”
All 75 foreign nationals, from 14 countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, Britain and the United States, are alive, diplomats said after the raid that ended the three-day
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