The Moscow theatre siege
A chronology of events following the storming of a Russian theatre by a gang of heavily armed Chechen militants
October 23
Gunmen and women storm a theatre in Moscow and hold the audience and cast hostage. There are reports that the group - which calls itself a suicide squad (a "smertniki") - has packed explosives into the building, and will kill themselves and their captives if Russian forces do not withdraw from Chechnya.
October 24
Five hostages are released but rescue workers wheel out a stretcher carrying the blanket-covered body of a woman shot and killed by the captors, the Russian public's first brief view of a victim of the violence.
The Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite TV channel broadcasts statements by some of the hostage-takers. "I swear by God we are more keen on dying than you are keen on living," a black-clad male hostage-taker says in the broadcast. "Each one of us is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of God and the independence of Chechnya."
October 25
3.55am: A security official says the terrorists have agreed to free all the foreigners among the hostages, but subsequent negotiations break down and the release agreement is not fulfilled.
4pm: Russia's federal security service head, Nikolai Patrushev, says the hostage-takers' lives will be guaranteed if they let the captives go; the Kremlin's only public offer to the group.
5.25pm: The Chechen group declares it will begin killing hostages before dawn, says a spokeswoman for the musical who has spoken to an actor held hostage.
October 26
5.15am: The captors kill two hostages and wound two others. Russian officials make a final attempt at talks with the terrorists, but the negotiations break down quickly. Gas is released into the building and special forces move in. Fifty captors are killed, some 750 hostages are freed and 90 hostages are reported dead.
October 27
The death toll among the hostages rises to 118. Moscow's chief doctor, Andrei Seltsovsky, says all but two were killed by the gas but Russian military authorities refuse to reveal its composition.
October 28
Russia has a national day of mourning for the crisis's civilian dead. Vladimir Putin says Russia will never make deals with terrorists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/oct/28/chechnya.russia6
