Hundreds of Russian troops ringed the hospital, which includes a maternity ward.
Raduyev also threatened to kill 10 hostages for every dead Chechen if federal troops tried to storm the hospital, Interfax said.
The rebels had reportedly promised to release old people and women in exchange for talks between Dudayev and the Russian leadership and safe passage back from the city. News reports said there were up to 400 rebels the rebels claimed they number 600. Officials believe remaining hostages were in nearby buildings captured by attackers. Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets told the agency more than 1,200 people were being held in the hospital. Russia’s Interior Ministry said the rebels were holding 2,000 hostages, the Interfax news agency reported. The report of those shootings came from ITAR-Tass, which cited an unidentified civilian who was a member of a group trying to start negotiations with the rebels. It was not clear whether that figure included two hostages whom the rebels reportedly shot and killed. The 23 dead included 13 rebels, five police officers and five civilians. ``This attack is the result of both sides blocking the negotiation process,″ human rights activist Sergei Kovalyov, a vocal critic of the war, said in Moscow. Peace talks prompted by the raid on Budyonnovsk have broken down, and fighting intensified last month during Moscow-backed elections for a new Chechen leader. Although their overwhelming military might has given them nominal control, the Russians have been thwarted by guerrilla-style attacks in and around Chechnya’s borders. War started 13 months ago when Russia sent troops into the republic to end three years of self-proclaimed independence. ``What have you done instead of effectively setting up outposts, building up forces and barring the rebels’ way?″ ``The border guards overslept,″ an angry Yeltsin told his Security Council. Yeltsin said his troops were caught off-guard again Tuesday. ``Budyonnovsk and Kizlyar will repeat again until Russia recognizes Dudayev and the Chechen republic,″ Raduyev said in his statement.
ECHO OF WAR CHECHEN FREE
More than 100 people died before negotiations won the hostages’ release and the gunmen’s free passage out. Then, Chechen rebels seized about 1,000 hostages in a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk. The raid was similar to an attack in June. The attack prompted Yeltsin to call an emergency session of security chiefs in the Kremlin and brought renewed appeals from critics to end the unpopular war. ``We can turn this city to hell and ashes,″ the leader of the raid, Salman Raduyev, said in an interview broadcast Tuesday evening by Russian TV. An unconfirmed ITAR-Tass report said rebels killed two of their hostages. The rebels initially threatened to kill hostages if Russia did not withdraw its troops from Chechnya. Chechen snipers controlled a bridge across the Terek River and two high-rise apartment buildings near the hospital. Russian troops sealed off the town and fought hundreds of rebels in street skirmishes, news reports said. The attack, led by a son-in-law of separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev, was the latest sign of new life in the beleaguered Chechen rebel movement after several months of low-level activity. A similar episode at a hospital in June left more than 100 people dead. On Tuesday, President Boris Yeltsin raged at his military for letting such an attack happen for a second time, denouncing soldiers he said were snoozing when they should have been blocking rebels. Russian federal officials did not immediately confirm the report. Some buses began arriving, but Russian military forces blocked them from approaching the hospital, the radio quoted Akalov as saying. The hostage-takers were still negotiating with local officials.Īli-Pasha Akalov, a member of Dagestan’s State Council, told the Echo Moscow radio station that the rebels had dropped demands for talks and were now asking only for buses and safe passage. It was the second time Chechen rebels stormed a hospital and took hostages.Įarly Wednesday, the rebels demanded buses so they could leave with 300 of their hostages for Gudermes, Chechnya’s second-largest city, a high-ranking Dagestani security official told the Interfax news agency. MOSCOW (AP) _ Chechen rebels seized a hospital and took 2,000 people hostage Tuesday in a southern Russian city, battling troops in the streets and threatening to ``turn this city to hell and ashes″ if Russia doesn’t pull its forces out of Chechnya.Īt least 23 people were killed in the bold assault on Kizlyar, in the republic of Dagestan, 60 miles northeast of the Chechen capital of Grozny.
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