October 27, 2002	Sunday	Sha’aban 20,1423

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MOSCOW, Oct 26: A bloody pre-dawn assault on a Moscow theatre by Russian forces on Saturday left more than 90 hostages and 50 of their captors dead, but officials insisted the rescue of more than 700 others showed they had averted even greater carnage.

The leading hostage-takers, Movsar Barayev, aged in his mid-20s, was among those killed when elite special forces burst into the auditorium after first pumping a potent sleeping gas into the building.

Almost 550 hostages were admitted to hospital.

In an address to the nation, President Vladimir Putin sought forgiveness from the families of the dead hostages and blamed the crisis on international terrorism. “We have not been able to save all. Forgive us,” Putin said in a television address.

The dramatic storming of the theatre southeast of Moscow’s centre ended a three-day ordeal for the hostages, hundreds of whom were seen running or stumbling outside as explosions and gunfire rang out.

They had been herded up by a group of around 50 guerillas, including 18 women, calling themselves Chechen as they sat down to watch a popular musical on Wednesday.

An early toll for the number of hostages who died was “up to 30”, but this was increased sharply to 67 in mid-afternoon and later rose to “more than 90” in a health ministry statement.

The reasons for the increase were unclear, but the authorities said earlier that 349 hostages had been hospitalized, many of them in serious condition.

The operation represented a gamble by President Vladimir Putin, who had resolutely refused throughout the crisis to submit to the Chechens’ demands that he end Russia’s three-year war in their republic.

Officials said they ordered the assault after the captors executed two men early in the morning and opened fire on fleeing hostages, some of whom made it to safety.

The hostage takers had previously warned they would start killing the captives if a 6am (7am PST) deadline for their demands to be met passed unanswered.

They had also claimed to have rigged the theatre with mines and a powerful bomb which one hostage said had been primed to explode in the event of an attack.

The special forces tackled that threat by pumping the gas into the theatre.

They then quickly blasted their way through a wall and picked off several of the guerillas before they had a chance to set off their bomb and explosives. An intense gunfight ensued which left 50 hostage-takers dead, officials said.

The remaining fighters were captured and rushed away by security officials. None of the special force officers was seriously hurt, officials said.

Russian television showed the blood-caked bodies of Chechen guerillas who had been killed during the operation. Black-robed Chechen women with explosives strapped to their bodies were seen slumped in chairs, apparently dead.

The Interfax correspondent on the scene said he saw several detained guerillas being led out of the theatre. Prosecutors later said they had begun interrogating the prisoners. Later officials said that just three had been arrested. Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said the authorities’ action had averted a far greater number of casualties.

“We managed to stop them (the guerillas) from blowing the theatre up and avoided the mass death of hostages, including children,” he said.

An Interfax news agency correspondent who was among the hostages, Olga Chernyak, said that if the theatre had not been stormed, all the hostages would have died.

“We were all expecting to die. We knew they would not let us go free,” she said.

Vasilyev denied that the gas, which he described as “special substances”, had caused any of the hostage deaths, as Moscow Echo radio reported earlier.

The radio had quoted doctors as saying some of the surviving hostages were in a poor state after having breathed the gas and that those who died may have choked on their own vomit.

The foreign ministry said no foreign hostages were killed in the operation, but the statement was thrown into doubt by the high toll figure. Moscow mayor had initially said that “up to 30” hostages had died.—AFP