GUNMEN who stormed a police station in the city of Nalchik in the Caucasus have taken hostages, according to a senior official. Russian authorities claim that around 72 people have been killed during a series of attacks in the town.
Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin's envoy to southern Russia, said on state television: "There are two hostpots where there are organised clashes. One is the No. 3 police precinct, where unfortunately there are hostages. An operation is now underway [to free
the hostages]."
Kozak said that Russian authorities now had the rest of the town under control: "There is no mass attack going on. The bandits who attacked police stations and some other government buildings have been dispersed for the most part."
Officials said that around 100 armed militants attacked police and government buildings in a bloody street battle in Nalchik involving heavy arms fire and explosions. Russian news agencies report that around 50 militants, ten police officers and 12 residents of the town have been killed during the attack.
Russian police say that three police stations, the city's airport and the regional headquarters of the Interior Ministry, the Russian prison system and the Federal Security Service were attacked simultaneously by gunmen. Nalchik's military commissariat was also attacked and a hunting store was raided in an apparent effort to obtain weapons.
A school near a police station and anti-terrorism office that came under attack was evacuated, according to a teacher who gave his name as Spartak. Parents were seen searching for children through smoke in the schoolyard.
President Putin has ordered a blockade of Nalchik. The city is about 100 km northwest of
Beslan, seen of the school siege in which 330 people, including 186 children, died a year ago.
Earlier, Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the co-ordinated attack on the city in the republic of Kabardino-Balkariya.
The Caucasus Front, a group believed to be part of the Chechen rebel armed forces, including alleged Islamic militants, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message sent to the
Kavkaz-Center website, itself seen as a voice for Chechen rebels.
The latest attacks in the predominately Muslim republic come during a rise in Islamic militancy in the Caucasus linked to the conflict in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, also largely Muslim. Police have launched attacks against suspected Islamic militants in Nalchik twice this year, killing ten people.
Yarmuk, an Islamic group linked to the Caucasus Front, denies involvement in previous attacks against the Russian police and accused the Russian authorities of using alleged militant attacks to repress Muslims.
