Hostage situation in Russia

[Rudey]

Where did you get that they were paramilitary?

By the way touching on the Arab connection:
"Up to 20 militants were believed to have been killed in the operation, according to Interfax. A Russian presidential aide said nine of those killed were Arab mercenaries, according to the news agency."
-MSNBC

As for what touched off the fighting:
"I want to point out that no military action was planned. We were planning further talks," the regional head of the FSB security service, Valery Andreyev, told RTR television.

His comments gave strength to earlier speculation the violent end to the siege in southern Russia may have been started by the Chechen militants inside the school."
-MSNBC

-Rudey

Originally posted by RACooper
The footage of the gun battle on CBC and BBC was actually very informative...

From the looks of things when troops tried to remove the bodies of some killed in the initial taking of the school, the rebels/terrorists opened fire... but while this was happening it appears if some hostages started to escape; most likely because the rebels/terrorists were distracted by the actions out side... this of course forced action by both sides in order to try and gain control of the situation.

As the troops advanced towards the school you could make a number of distinct military units, as defined by both conduct and uniform.

There was opbvious members of the special forces, moving towards the fire fight in a control and disciplined fashion... but they were moving in, they weren't the instigators of the fire fight.

There was also a number of standard military personal, who unfortunately weren't acting with any sense of over strategy to co-ordinate their actions.

Finally there appeared to be some para-military units that were mixing in with both the civilians and the military personnel... from the looks of things they may have been members of either the local militia or one of the Cossack units that have been raised by the community of late.

The last group (paramilitary) is what I suspect touched off the assault, as they would have been the most emotionally invested in the situation, and would have risked a confrontation to recover the bodies of victims; either because of relation or in the case of the Cossacks for religious reasons.