About 1000 People Taken Hostage at Moscow Theater

Tens of Chechen guerrillas stormed into a theater in Moscow where a popular musical was playing on Oct. 24 (local time) and they were reported to have taken up to 1000 hostages, demanding an end to the war in Chechnya. They shot and killed a policeman who tried to enter the theater.

They demanded that Russia should stop its military attack against Chechnya and withdraw its military. They also warned that if their demand were not accepted, they would explode the building.

The rebels killed by shooting a policeman who tried to stumble into the theater as if he were a drunken man around 6 a.m. on the same day. Then there were some explosions around 9:15 a.m., so there is a possibility of several more casualties.

The Itar Tass news agency reported, "Austrian and German ambassadors and some diplomats of other countries were around the scene at that time and among the hostages are one American and some people from Australia, Austria, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands." Therefore, the incident is likely to have ripple effects to other countries.

About 40 Chechen guerillas equipped with automatic rifles stormed into a theater at Melnicova Street where Russian musical "Nord-Ost" was playing at 9:00 p.m. on Oct. 24 and took the audience, actors and actresses and theater staff hostage.

Though Russia`s official broadcast station RTR reported, "About 40 guerillas hold some 700 people in hostage and among them are diplomats and foreigners", some other media outlets said that the hostage were about 1,000.

The guerillas released some hostages including children and foreign Muslims, and some escaped from the theater building at the early stage of the incident.

In an interview with the Russia radio station Eco, the released hostages said that 40-50 Chechen rebels wired themselves and the theater building with explosives and they were armed with automatic rifles and hand grenades.

As soon as the incident occurred, Russian authorities posted tanks 400 meters from the building and mobilized police and special military forces to surround it.

Chechen rebels` website, www.kavkaz.org, posted a claim quoting a senior Chechen official that the rebels occupying the theater are preparing to let go of another 30 hostages.

As for this, the Ria Novosti news agency reported, "The rebels want to have a dialogue with representatives of Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres)."

Meanwhile, the Korean ambassador to Russia said that there were no Korean among the hostages.

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com