- MOSCOW (AFP- Sapa) - Most
of the rebels holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theatre are not
Chechens but "mercenaries", the Moscow representative of the
pro-Russian Chechen administration said on Thursday.
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- "Most of the gunmen are mercenaries, we're sure
of it," the Interfax news agency quoted Adlan Magomadov as saying.
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- "Witnesses said some of them spoke a Caucasian language,
but not Chechen," he said, adding that the all of the hostage-takers
except for two wore masks.
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- "We're going to help the special services and security
forces to identify them," Magomadov said, adding that his office had
asked prominent Chechens living in Moscow to help in the effort to free
the hundreds of hostages.
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- Representatives of the Chechen diaspora had offered to
take the place of some of the hostagesAs many as 1 000 people were taken
hostage late on Wednesday at a theatre in the southeast of the Russian
capital by the rebels, who have threatened to blow up the theatre if Russia
does not withdraw its forces from Chechnya.
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- According to www.kavkaz.org, the official website of
the Chechen separatists, the leader of the commandos is Movsar Barayev,
the nephew of slain rebel warlord Arbi Barayev, who was shot dead last
year.
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- "A large number of young Chechens in Moscow are
ready at any moment to participate alongside security forces in an effort
to free the hostages," Magomadov said, noting that representatives
of the Chechen diaspora had offered to take the place of some of the hostages.
- Sapa-AFP
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- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=24&art_id=qw1035460801301B262&set_id=1
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