Up to 150 Hostages Killed in N.Ossetia
Up to 150 Hostages Killed in N.Ossetia
Russian troops stormed the school building in Beslan, North Ossetia. Not less than 12 terrorists fled the building unharmed, staged a gunfight in the streets of Beslan, and then disappeared, leaving 5 of their comrades dead (the total number of attackers was originally estimated at 17, 4 of them women). This is the only casualties' figure confirmed so far. Nothing is known about the number of dead and wounded among both hostages and federal forces, engaged in the rescue effort.
It's perfectly clear, that from now on the authorities' main task will be to hide real figures from the public.
From Dubrovka experience we know, that 129 dead should be considered a victory, and in this case even 150 will be proclaimed a good result. But this figure should emerge someday in the remote future - a week, two weeks from the storming date, when people start forgetting.
In the Dubrovka case, to arrive to the final number of 129 killed (contested by the media, but still official), the authorities started citing 10 dead, then 30, then 60... This was an outright and blatant lie from the start, according to those involved in corpses' evacuation: some 100 corpses were removed from the theatre site before the figure of 10 dead was ever named.
Now we see repetition of same scenario. Any casualties are classified information, and any leaks thereof are carefully dozed. 150 dead — the estimate that only Radio Free Europe dared to voice, of all Russian-speaking media — is semiofficially confirmed at the moment at the rescue HQ. Which obviously means it's a gross understatement.
At the moment, over 328 hostages were hospitalized. But we are told, that they tend to hospitalized everyone who is rescued. And the total number of people, who were held in the school building, remains undisclosed.
Russian troops stormed the school building in Beslan, North Ossetia. Not less than 12 terrorists fled the building unharmed, staged a gunfight in the streets of Beslan, and then disappeared, leaving 5 of their comrades dead (the total number of attackers was originally estimated at 17, 4 of them women). This is the only casualties' figure confirmed so far. Nothing is known about the number of dead and wounded among both hostages and federal forces, engaged in the rescue effort.
It's perfectly clear, that from now on the authorities' main task will be to hide real figures from the public.
From Dubrovka experience we know, that 129 dead should be considered a victory, and in this case even 150 will be proclaimed a good result. But this figure should emerge someday in the remote future - a week, two weeks from the storming date, when people start forgetting.
In the Dubrovka case, to arrive to the final number of 129 killed (contested by the media, but still official), the authorities started citing 10 dead, then 30, then 60... This was an outright and blatant lie from the start, according to those involved in corpses' evacuation: some 100 corpses were removed from the theatre site before the figure of 10 dead was ever named.
Now we see repetition of same scenario. Any casualties are classified information, and any leaks thereof are carefully dozed. 150 dead — the estimate that only Radio Free Europe dared to voice, of all Russian-speaking media — is semiofficially confirmed at the moment at the rescue HQ. Which obviously means it's a gross understatement.
At the moment, over 328 hostages were hospitalized. But we are told, that they tend to hospitalized everyone who is rescued. And the total number of people, who were held in the school building, remains undisclosed.
posted by dolboeb at 4:37 PM
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