The Hindu : Forces' skill gets the better of rebels

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 27, 2002

International

International

Forces' skill gets the better of rebels

MOSCOW Oct. 26. The superior combat skills and resources of Russia's special forces gave little chance to the Chechen separatists, but were unable to prevent the deaths of at least 67 hostages.

Russian media and politicians claimed a triumph for the troops who carried out the pre-dawn raid, saying they had avoided a bloodbath that many saw as almost inevitable as the rebels held nearly 800 people inside a building wired with mines and bombs.

Accounts of the raid differ and no official version of events has yet been released, but for all their expertise, the special forces were unable to prevent the killing of at least 67 of the hostages held inside the Moscow theatre for three days.

The Deputy Interior Minister, Vladimir Vasilyev, said that the assault ``did not go off as planned but as the situation dictated.''

Witnesses said that the forces sprayed gas inside the theatre to incapacitate the rebels. The gas also affected many of the hostages, and doctors suggested that some of them may have died from choking on their own vomit.

Lev Federov, a chemical weapons specialist, told Moscow Echo radio that the gas was one of the few not forbidden by an international agreement on chemical weapons and was stocked by armies around the world.

He said those hospitalised because of the gas should experience no long-term side effects. It took just 15 minutes to ``incapacitate'' the hostage-takers, witnesses told Russian television. Just 40 minutes were needed for the special forces to secure the theatre, they said.

A priority concern was to prevent female Chechen suicide commandos strapped with explosives from blowing themselves up, taking many of the hostages with them, or setting off larger explosive charges scattered around the auditorium.

The suicide bombers were the first to be gunned down by Russian sharpshooters as the assault began.

The operation apparently began some time before the 6 a.m. local time deadline the rebels had given the President, Vladimir Putin, to declare an end to the war in the southern republic or they would begin shooting hostages.

At 5:40 a.m., two loud explosions and gunshots were heard near the theatre. Minutes later, officials said the hostage-takers had killed two captives and injured two others.

Meanwhile, a crisis group at the scene said that special forces had launched their raid at 6:30 a.m. after the rebels shot two hostages.

A group of hostages then tried to escape and the rebels opened fire, prompting special forces troops to respond, it said.

Yet one witness, a journalist, told Moscow Echo radio that while special forces had planned to launch the raid at the 6 a.m. deadline, the operation began instead at 5:26 a.m. when the hostage-takers spotted special forces troops and began shooting at them.

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