Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Details Emerge About End of Moscow Hostage Crisis
Aired October 26, 2002 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we want to head overseas now for more details how that siege at a Moscow theater came to an end.
CNN's Mike Hanna is standing by live in Moscow with that. And Mike, I guess we have to tell people that some of the pictures you're going to show them are pretty graphic.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, indeed, Carol.
Fifty-eight hours of an ordeal for more than 700 people held in a Moscow theater by a group of Chechen rebels ended in the early hours of Saturday morning. Russian special forces stormed the theater. This, say Russian officials, after they'd received reports that the two hostages had been executed by the Chechen rebels inside that theater.
The Russian special forces stormed in. There was exchanges of gunfire. However, within the theater as well, after the operation, which lasted some half an hour, there were left dead 34 of the Chechen rebels. The rest, according to Russian officials, have been captured and are being interrogated.
Clearly, some kind of incapacitating agent was used in this operation. The Chechen rebels had explosives strapped to their bodies, and yet were unable to detonate these explosives. One hundred -- 750 people were rescued in the operation. The hostages coming out, many of them having to receive assistance, clearly also still recovering from the affects of whatever agent was used to incapacitate those inside the theater.
Also in the operation, though, or before it, 67 of the hostages were killed. The Russian government expressing deep regret at this loss of life, but generally saying that the operation was a success, pointing to the fact that 750 people were rescued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been visiting some of the hostages recovering in hospital. He did not actually order the operation. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that decision was taken by the man on the ground, the federal security service deputy chief, who ordered the Russian forces into the theater, ending the siege that has lasted three days, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Mike Hanna, thanks for the update. Mike Hanna reporting live from Moscow this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 26, 2002 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we want to head overseas now for more details how that siege at a Moscow theater came to an end.
CNN's Mike Hanna is standing by live in Moscow with that. And Mike, I guess we have to tell people that some of the pictures you're going to show them are pretty graphic.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, indeed, Carol.
Fifty-eight hours of an ordeal for more than 700 people held in a Moscow theater by a group of Chechen rebels ended in the early hours of Saturday morning. Russian special forces stormed the theater. This, say Russian officials, after they'd received reports that the two hostages had been executed by the Chechen rebels inside that theater.
The Russian special forces stormed in. There was exchanges of gunfire. However, within the theater as well, after the operation, which lasted some half an hour, there were left dead 34 of the Chechen rebels. The rest, according to Russian officials, have been captured and are being interrogated.
Clearly, some kind of incapacitating agent was used in this operation. The Chechen rebels had explosives strapped to their bodies, and yet were unable to detonate these explosives. One hundred -- 750 people were rescued in the operation. The hostages coming out, many of them having to receive assistance, clearly also still recovering from the affects of whatever agent was used to incapacitate those inside the theater.
Also in the operation, though, or before it, 67 of the hostages were killed. The Russian government expressing deep regret at this loss of life, but generally saying that the operation was a success, pointing to the fact that 750 people were rescued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been visiting some of the hostages recovering in hospital. He did not actually order the operation. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that decision was taken by the man on the ground, the federal security service deputy chief, who ordered the Russian forces into the theater, ending the siege that has lasted three days, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Mike Hanna, thanks for the update. Mike Hanna reporting live from Moscow this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
