Russian television showed an armoured personnel carrier driving through the gift shop's wall after grenades had been fired through its barred windows. The grenades allegedly contained a knock-out gas and a short while later two female hostages were seen being ushered to a waiting ambulance in a state of shock. All three groups were the remnants of a larger force of 200 to 600 fighters.The authorities claimed late yesterday afternoon that all the hostages had been freed unharmed and that all the militants holding them had been "destroyed". If anyone takes up arms in future and threatens the lives and health of our citizens or the territorial integrity of Russia we'll deal with them in the same way. We'll respond harshly and proportionately."Special forces carried out three separate mopping-up operations, killing at least 20 rebel gunmen in the course of the day.Eight rebel fighters had been holed up in a police station with five hostages while two or three other gunmen had barricaded themselves inside a gift shop with two female hostages.A further 12 gunmen were occupying a correctional centre with 12 hostages.
07/11 - 09/11 Score some San Francisco Giants Tickets playing in Citizens Bank Park, Comerica Park. San Francisco Giants is playing in Philadelphia, Detroit and Denver. San Francisco Giants tickets
03/12 - 12/11 Get Billy Elliot Tickets playing in Kennedy Center Opera House, Majestic Theatre. Billy Elliot is playing in Washington, San Antonio and Columbus. Billy Elliot tickets
08/11 - 09/11 Bag Detroit Tigers Tickets performing in Oriole Park At Camden Yards, Overstock.com Coliseum. Detroit Tigers is performing in Baltimore, Oakland and Cleveland. Detroit Tigers tickets
"And it's a huge tragedy that we have incurred losses among law enforcement officials and civilians. Everyone who suffered and relatives of the dead will be helped. What is good is that this time the law enforcement agencies and the military acted in a co-ordinated fashion, effectively and harshly. From contradictory official announcements it is clear, however, that at least 20 civilians were killed along with 24 policemen and several soldiers.
At least 140 others are in hospital, some in a critical condition.Speaking to the heads of his so-called power ministries, Mr Putin promised that any future rebel aggression would be quelled just as decisively."It's bad that bandit raids of this kind are possible," he said. The rebel assault, the authorities crowed, had been put down. The death toll in the southern Russian city, which the rebels tried to seize by force on Thursday, was constantly creeping higher with the authorities claiming to have killed 91 militants and to have captured 36 alive.Russian television broadcast pictures of defeated-looking bearded men lined up on both sides of a police station wall being guarded by balaclava-clad men with Kalashnikovs.Civilian fatalities were high though a final list has yet to be compiled. He spoke after special forces and interior ministry troops in Nalchik boasted they had "destroyed" the last three groups of rebels who had been holding civilians and policemen hostage. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Chechen militants that he would show them no mercy after his troops used massive firepower to quell the biggest and most audacious rebel assault in more than a year. If this is enforced at the border Transnistrian companies will have more incentive to legitimise themselves with the Moldovan authorities and less reason to pay-off Smirnoff cronies.Already there are signs of economic pressure on the Smirnoff regime. Mr Tarasyuk says that a Ukrainian crackdown at the border "has caused concern in Transnistria, especially among those who benefit from contraband".The EU mission will tighten the screw: the Martini mandate might just prove the undoing of Smirnoff..