Hostages saved, rebels killed in Russia

NALCHIK, Russia - Russian security forces saved a group of hostages and killed their Chechen captors who held them overnight in a town in the Caucasus following a huge rebel raid that killed dozens.

Justice officials said eight rebels were killed and their five captives freed after they tried to drive away in a mini-bus from the police station in the southern town of Nalchik where they had been holed up overnight.

"All the militants were killed and all the hostages freed. There are some things still left to be done but practically speaking the operation is over," police spokeswoman Marina Kyasova told Reuters.

News agencies reported other rebels hiding in a city centre shop in Nalchik had also been killed, and their hostages freed by police using heavy weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000 by talking tough on Chechnya, ordered his security forces to cordon off Nalchik after Thursday's attack and kill any gunmen who resisted.

The authorities' rapid response to the crisis was in contrast to last year's deadly attack by Chechen militants on a school in the town of Beslan, when the Russian leader was widely criticised for staying silent for too long.

But it remained unclear whether it would deflect public criticism over another failure by security services to prevent a rebel assault in the turbulent region.

The death toll of the brazen daylight attack remained unclear. RIA Novosti news agency reported that a total of 24 servicemen and police had died, and other reports said between 14 and 24 civilians had died.

The closely coordinated attack on police, army and Federal Security Service (FSB) points in the garrison town marked the first major rebel operation since Abdul-Khalid Sadulayev took over as leader of the Chechen separatists in March.

KREMLIN CHALLENGED

In an operation that challenged Kremlin assertions it had the Caucasus under control, at least 100 rebels attacked key security points in the town on Thursday morning.

Police said 61 rebels had died in the raid, in the main city of the Muslim Kabardino-Balkaria region near rebel Chechnya, while 17 had been captured. Rebel websites put their losses at 11 dead and four missing.

Several corpses lay in the streets in pools of blood and covered over with blankets during the attack, which wound down by around midday.

Kabardino-Balkaria is one of several Muslim regions in the Caucasus, and borders the North Ossetia province where Chechen militants attacked the school in Beslan in September 2004, resulting in the deaths of 331 people, half of them children.

The separatists, who have been fighting Russian rule for more than a decade, were quick to claim responsibility for the assault on Nalchik, a town of about 280,000 people.

But Russian officials said the security forces had re-established firm control of the town.

- REUTERS