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32 hostages freed in Russia
Armed
attackers have freed a number of women and children from a school in south
Russia, where they are still holding more than 300 people hostage.
The release of 32 hostages came well into
the second day of the crisis, after blasts and gunfire were heard.
Officials ruled out using force to end the
siege in North Ossetia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said the hostages’
safety was paramount.
Hundreds of desperate parents are waiting
outside the school in Beslan.
Women cradling very small children emerged
from the building and were whisked away in cars by Russian security forces, as
the crowd rushed forward to find out who had been freed.
Officials said the breakthrough came after
mediation efforts by the former president of the neighbouring region of
Ingushetia and that negotiations would continue.
As the siege continued, anger and
frustration was growing among the families.
Some of the hostages have reportedly been
able to phone home, describing conditions in the school as tolerable.
Inside are pupils, teachers and parents
who had come to the school on Wednesday morning to help celebrate the first day
of term.
"Our main task is to save the life and
health of those who have ended up as hostages," said President Putin who
cancelled a working holiday and visit to Turkey to deal with the crisis.
The head of the Russian security service
in North Ossetia has said there is "no question" of opting for force at the
moment.
Reporters quoted Valery Andreyev as saying
"There will be a lengthy and tense process of negotiation.".
North Ossetia’s Interior Minister Kazbek
Dzantiyev said 12 civilians had been killed since the siege began, Itar-Tass
reports.
The hostage-takers began talking overnight
to prominent paediatrician Lev Roshal, who helped negotiate the release of
children during the siege of a Moscow theatre in 2002.
Mr Roshal said they refused offers to
deliver food and water, but he was assured the children were fine.
Masked men and women, wearing bomb belts,
burst into the school, whose pupils are aged seven to 18, at around 0930 local
time (0530 GMT) on Wednesday.
Trip wires are believed to have been laid
around the school, with the attackers threatening to blow it up if stormed by
police.
Mr Dzantiyev was quoted as saying on
Wednesday they threatened to kill 50 children for every fighter killed.
Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has
denied that his forces are involved in the siege.
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