- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States has asked Russia to explain the special forces assault on
the Moscow theater where Chechen guerrillas were holding hundreds of hostages,
a State Department official said on Monday.
-
- The Russian special forces used an unidentified gas to
incapacitate the guerrillas on Saturday, but the gas appears to have killed
more than 100 of the hostages as well.
-
- "We have asked the Russians to help us understand
what took place and asked them for information about the gas that was used,"
said the official, who asked not to be named.
-
- The State Department official said U.S. officials had
still not found the two Americans and the U.S. permanent resident who are
thought to have been in the theater at the time.
-
- "We still don't have an answer on the Americans.
The ambassador and his staff have been very active going round the hospitals
checking for them," he said.
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- The United States said on Saturday it was relieved that
the siege was over and was sending condolences to the families of the victims.
It did not comment on the Russians' tactics.
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