Attackers storm Russian school
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3616868.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3616868.stm
An armed gang is holding up to 150 people hostage after seizing a school in southern Russia.
Several people are reported to have been killed after about 17 masked men and women stormed the secondary school in Beslan, North Ossetia.
Many students are among the hostages but the gang is thought to have allowed 15 children to leave.
The attackers are said to be demanding the withdrawal of Russia troops from neighbouring Chechnya.
Pupils have reportedly been lined up against the windows to prevent an assault by security services, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Damian Grammaticas.
The gang has also threatened to kill children if any of them are hurt by security forces, a regional official said.
"They have said that for every fighter wiped out they will kill 50 children and for every fighter wounded, 20," Interior Minister Kazbek Dzantiyev was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
Several people are reported to have been killed after about 17 masked men and women stormed the secondary school in Beslan, North Ossetia.
Many students are among the hostages but the gang is thought to have allowed 15 children to leave.
The attackers are said to be demanding the withdrawal of Russia troops from neighbouring Chechnya.
Pupils have reportedly been lined up against the windows to prevent an assault by security services, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Damian Grammaticas.
The gang has also threatened to kill children if any of them are hurt by security forces, a regional official said.
"They have said that for every fighter wiped out they will kill 50 children and for every fighter wounded, 20," Interior Minister Kazbek Dzantiyev was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
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