Job Discussion Forums

BethMac · Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 79

200 children held hostage in Russian school

Last Updated Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:49:55 EDT

MOSCOW - Around 400 people, including 200 children are being held hostage in a sourthern Russian town bordering Chechnya after attackers, some wearing suicide-bomb belts, seized an elementary school Wednesday.

Russian soldiers rescue a child in North Ossetia, Russia Wednesday morning. (AP photo)
At least two people were reported killed, one a parent who resisted an attacker.

Fifty people were able to escape after they hid in the boiler room and fled as the armed militants took over the building.

Hostage-takers subsequently released 15 students from the school, ITAR-Tass reported.

The attackers traded gunfire with police after the seizure of the school in Beslan in the North Ossetia. Three teachers and two police officers were wounded, a police spokesman said.

The hostage-takers, who drove up in a covered army transport truck, have apparently mined the school and threatened to blow it up if police storm in. They have demanded talks with regional officials but their demands are not known. It is also not known who the assailants are.

The attack came after a ceremony to mark the start of classes on the first day of the Russian school year.

There are 17 attackers, male and female, according to the Interfax news agency, citing a spokesman for the Federal Security Service.

Wednesday's hostage-taking follows Tuesday night's suicide bombing outside a Moscow subway that killed 10 people and injured more than 50. Officials said a female suicide bomber set off the homemade bomb.

Last week, two Russian passenger planes crashed nearly, killing 90 people.

A militant Islamist group claimed responsibility on a website for the subway bombing and the plane crashes. They claim it's revenge for the Russia's war with Chechnya.

The group's claims have not been verified.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Considering that this hostage taking is the number one news story on cnn.com, yahoo.com, msn.com, and dozens of other news sites, is it really necessary to start up a new thread here?
Does it have much to do with TEFL/TESL? Question

BethMac · Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 79

There are ESL teachers in Russia and there are Russian ESL students all over the globe. Just because this news doesn't interest you, does not mean it doesn't interest - or impact on - anyone else. As the saying goes, "If you don't like it, don't read it." Very Happy

Sunflower · Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Moscow - Seoul

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

I wonder what makes people threaten to kill hundreds of children... There's something a bit wrong there.

Ludwig · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:23 pm Post subject:

http://www.hrw.org/photos/2002/chechnya/

http://hrw.org/reports/2002/russchech02/

Seth · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 575 Location: in exile

the crap hit the fan. 200 people died in the raid of the school. i don't know if it was from the rebels or if it was the heavy-handed russian military/police. probably a little of both.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Sounds like the attack on the Davidian group in Waco Texas in 1993. Hard to tell which side in these things has more terrorists.

By declaring war on Terrorism, the Bushites have legitimized it in all its forms, and by practising it so actively they are making sure that it spreads geometrically around the planet.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Wow: glad to see that The Bush Gang is now considered to be obscene on this forum. Great beep!

Ellis · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:25 pm Post subject: THIS COMES FROM A "TEACHER?"

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

I agree with Ellis. Your comment was shockingly callous and cruelly foolish. Comments and thinking like yours give ESL teachers a (frequently deserved) bad name.

The conflict in Chechenia is another conflict about petroleum--the race among the major "powers" to grab all the petroleum on the planet (The Middle East, Central Asia, Sudan, Venezuela, etc.) has made human life as unimportant as toilet paper in those areas. This degradation of what it means to be human should be of absolutely critical importance to anyone with even remote aspirations to being an educator.

Ellis · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:01 am Post subject:

Is650 ... To borrow from the inimitable oratory of one sadly missed JFK, "Ugggh ... Let me say this about THAAAT" ... Being a Leo with B-type blood, I've hardly ever been accused of being shy. But, to put it in a nutshell, as it were, albeit you, I, and everyone else can get rather ill from hearing the same news over and over, it all boils down to the NATURE of such news -- in this instance, most appalling and tragic. Even in one of my daily TOEFL classes, most of the two-hour period was taken up with a round-table discussion of the tragic event which took place in Russia, particularly the woeful loss inflicted upon the town's inhabitants. What did it have to do with TOEFL? PLENTY: a conversation, YES, but one stimulating enough to bring out some original lines of expression (not to mention emotion) which I later had the students use in their 30-minute composition portion of a practice test. Sneaky ... perhaps, but MOST useful in getting their vocabulary and thought continuity on the move! There! I haven't even alluded to your being an evil monster. I apologize for having responded to your post while in an angry mood, but that message of yours managed to strike me hard ... and in an area of the anatomy which, for obvious reasons, will remain unnamed. In parting, I beg you to P-L-E-A-S-E keep an open mind (as well as heart). As our colleague, moonraven, aptly cited, it is often the insensitivity of many instructors which shines through more than their ability to teach English, thus giving so many of us a negative reputation. My advice: Keep on truckin', but, for Christ's sake, keep your eyes on the road!

Peace.

bigbadsuzie

Now that the full horror of this story has unfolded it should at least give a valuable lesson to all of us.
We are not safe whereever we are or who ever we are . Young, old, regardless of our faith or culture .This is just the start of what could become an ongoing struggle for peace and harmony between nations .we are in the front line here this kind of thing could happen anywhere at any time .This time a school next time a university or a shopping mall maybe a powerful explosive device, or god forbid something chemical or biological in a city water supply. Personal arguements aside we have a major problem on our hands ,all of us .

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

The sooner the planet runs out of oil the better. I suspect that when this happens the international Muslim community might start feeling a little less "persecuted", Israel will find itself a little less funded and the world might be a little more chilled.