School hostages freed

Hopes for a peaceful resolution to the Russian hostage crisis were raised today with the release of up to 31 women and children from the besieged school.

The group, including several babies and elderly women, were allowed out of the building by suspected Chechen rebels as negotiations continued over the fate of an estimated 330 remaining hostages including up to 200 children.

Russian television showed special forces soldiers carrying infants, one wrapped in a blanket and one naked, to safety after negotiators made their first breakthrough in the two-day stand-off.

The release came shortly after the militants fired rocketpropelled grenades at two cars which had driven within sight of Middle School No1, in the southern Russian town of Beslan. The school was crowded because families were attending an opening day ceremony.

Local official Lev Dzugayev called the release "the first success".

It is thought the former head of North Ossetia's neighbour Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, had negotiated the breakthrough after intense talks with the gunmen.

Twenty-five rebels - some of whom entered the building with explosives strapped to their chests - are thought to be in the school complex and have threatened to blow up the building and kill 50 children for every one of their own number killed.

Hundreds of parents and relatives spent a long night's vigil praying for a peaceful end. Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke on television to say he would do everything possible to free the hostages and ruled out any imminent military action.

In his first public remarks since the stand-off began, Mr Putin said: "Our main task is to save the life and health of those who became hostages."

Valery Andreyev, head of the security service in North Ossetia province, said: "There is no question at the moment of opting for force. There will be a lengthy and tense process of negotiation."

He said elders from Chechnya and Ingushetia had offered to act as stand-in hostages for the women and children inside the school.

As talks via phone continued, details about who the militants are and what they wanted remained unclear. North Ossetia is near the republic of Chechnya where separatist rebels have been fighting Russian forces since 1999 and suspicion raid fell on Chechen militants, although no claim of responsibility has been made.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today said that the siege "affects us all".

In a speech on the need for more UN pre-emptive involvement to combat terror, Mr Straw said the incident showed that terrorists were prepared to attack anyone, anywhere, without a shred of compassion.

"Their suffering is our suffering," he said.