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North Ossetia negotiations break down
A reporter on the scene of the school siege in southern Russia has told CNN that negotiations broke down hours ago after militants turned off their telephones. The tense standoff began when gunmen seized at least 100 hostages -- possibly as many as 400 -- at the school in southern Russia on Wednesday. Four people were killed in the initial attack and Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled an upcoming trip to Turkey to deal with the standoff, sources in his office told CNN. Time magazine reporter Paul Quinn-Judge reported early Thursday that several hundred relatives of the hostages had gathered at the town's main community hall. "The mood here is very subdued, very quiet. Hardly anybody is speaking, except in a low murmur," he said. "People are stunned and exceedingly distressed, some of them are also very angry and that anger is perhaps one of the most worrisome tendencies that one can pick up here as one wonders through the town." Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-09-02 |
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