Militants Release 31 Hostages in Russia
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BESLAN, Russia - Camouflaged security agents carried babies to safety after militants holding hundreds of hostages at a school released at least 31 women and children Thursday, and officials expressed hope that negotiations would bring more progress in the standoff in southern Russia.    But a crowd of hostages' relatives keeping vigil outside the school was shaken when a pair of explosions went off just ahead of the release...
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BESLAN, Russia - Children returned to schools in this grief-stricken southern Russian town Wednesday for the first time since heavily armed militants seized more than 1,200 hostages at a school two weeks ago in a raid that shocked Russia and the world.    Students and teachers began the school day with a minute of silence, and officials said the town's seven schools would have a shortened day of classes...
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Russian special services free two people who were held hostage by inmates at a pre-trial detention centre in Moscow.
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Russian police forced three inmate hostage-takers to release their 15 captives unharmed Monday after an hours-long standoff at a pretrial detention center in southeast Moscow, said Interfax news agency, quoting prison system director Yuri Kalinin.
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Ten of the estimated 30 militants who seized a school in southern Russia have been identified and six were from Chechnya, security officials said Thursday, drawing a strong connection to the Chechen insurgents who have been fighting Russian forces for years.
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MOSCOW - Russian police on Thursday freed several hostages being held by twin brothers fleeing the army who earlier killed two police officers.
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Around 300 people, including many children, were facing a harrowing night in captivity Wednesday after they were taken hostage by extremists wearing belts laden with explosives at a southern Russian school near war-torn Chechnya.
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Militants released seven foreign hostages Wednesday after their employer paid &#36;500,000 ransom, while France mustered support from Muslims at home and abroad to push for the release of two French journalists still held captive in Iraq.
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BESLAN, Russia - Camouflage-clad commandos carried crying babies away from a school where gunmen holding hundreds of hostages freed at least 26 women and children Thursday during a second day of high drama that kept crowds of distraught relatives on edge.    Men and women wept with disappointment or hugged each other with relief as a man read the names of the freed hostages over a loudspeaker...
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Eighteen soldiers held hostage by pro-Taleban militants in a Pakistani tribal region are released, officials say.
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Kidnappers released two Italian aid workers and five other hostages Tuesday, raising hopes for at least 18 foreigners still in captivity.
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MOSCOW, November 25 (Itar-Tass) - A special task force unit freed both women who were held hostage by two armed army deserters in the Moscow region.
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BESLAN, Russia - Camouflage-clad commandos carried crying babies away from a school where gunmen holding hundreds of hostages freed at least 26 women and children Thursday during a second day of high drama that kept crowds of distraught relatives on edge.    Two new accounts emerged, meanwhile, that the militants were holding at least 1,000 children, teachers and parents inside the school, far more than previously thought...
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Two weeks after heavily armed militants took more than 1,200 hostages in a school in southern Russia, students in this grief-stricken town returned to classes accompanied by nervous relatives and armed, camouflage-clad police.
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Fears mount of bloody end to standoff in which armed robbers hold 30 hostages
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BESLAN, Russia - More than 340 people, including 155 children, were killed in the violence that ended a hostage standoff with militants at a southern Russian school, a prosecutor said Saturday. President Vladimir Putin accused the attackers of trying to spark an ethnic conflict that would engulf Russia's troubled Caucasus Mountains region...
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Militants in the oil-rich south of Nigeria free 12 foreigners, whom they had been holding hostage.