including Christian school children and missionaries, are being held, news reports said.
Reporters claimed they saw "large plumes of black smoke rising over the building," but were unable to provide any explanation for the two blasts.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out for now using force to end the hostage crisis in the town of Beslan in Russia’s republic of North Ossetia, the Voice of America (VOA) network said. It came as Russian officials said Thursday, September 2, they made no progress in talks with the militants holding the hostages.
The telephone negotiations continued after up to 400 people, almost half of them children, reportedly spent a difficult night inside the gymnasium of the school in the Russian region, which was stormed early Wednesday, September 1, by an estimated 20 heavily armed attackers.
Some are wearing suicide bomb belts and have threatened to set off the explosives, if Russian troops make any attempt to storm the building, officials said. The militants, who are believed to be from the troubled neighboring Russian republic of Chechnya, reportedly rejected an offer of safe passage out of the area and a request to exchange adults for the more than 100 children being held.
CHRISTIANS IN SCHOOL
An official of the United States backed Russian Ministries organization, which is actively supporting the school, told Christian broadcaster Mission Network News (MNN) that two staff members and their Christian children were in the complex.
"One of them is (the) coordinator for (the) region there and the other one is the pastor of the church there in (the school town of) Beslan," Sergey Rakhuba said. "And it happens that they are brothers by blood and by faith and their eight children are there, all of their children are there," he said in an interview monitored by BosNewsLife.
Russian Ministries’ Director, Genady Terkun, who was outside the school grounds, told reporters that "many of the children were very excited about the beginning of school and happy because they had just returned from summer camps" supported by his organization "where they learned about Jesus."
CHILDREN TRAPPED
The seizure of the school took place shortly after celebratory activities launching the beginning of a new school year, he and others said. Terkun urged Christians of the world "to pray for the physical safety and spiritual strength of all the hostages and the families of 50 other Christian children trapped in the school."
He spoke as reporters saw how outside on the school grounds, hundreds of anguished parents kept an all-night vigil, at times pleading with soldiers to do whatever possible to free their children.
Terkun stressed he personally knew many of the hostages. "We were able to distribute in this school, the Russian Christmas shoe boxes (with presents). I was there. I had dinner with these leaders and their children."
There are conflicting reports about the militant’s demands, VOA reported. On Wednesday, September 1, they wanted to talk with the president of North Ossetia and sought freedom for other rebels jailed in nearby Ingushetia. They are also reported to be calling for all Russian troops to be withdrawn from Chechnya, VOA said.
MORE VIOLENCE
The siege of the Beslan School marks the latest in a series of violent attacks this year in Russia attributed to Chechen rebels fighting for independence from Russia.
On Tuesday, August 31, a car bomb went off outside of a Moscow subway stop killing at least 10 people. Last week, on August 24, two airplanes crashed within minutes of each other after taking off from the same airport. About ninety people were killed in those attacks, linked to suicide bombers.
On May 9, a bomb exploded in a stadium in the Chechen capital of Grozny during a Victory Day ceremony, killing Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and 24 other people. In Moscow, on February 9, an explosion ripped through a subway car killing 41 people.
CHRISTIAN RADIO
The Christian radio station HCJB World Radio, which is funded by American Christians, said the latest developments show that it was needed to broadcast into the area. "This is an opportunity for us in Christian radio to deal with to deal with life’s real issues," said it’s Sub-Regional Director Mark Irwin in an interview with MNN.
"When things come down to things such as terrorism, I think people look for answers to life’s real questions, but we’re trusting in the Lord and even more reason why we need to develop Christian radio in this country so that people will know the hope that’s only be found in Jesus," he said.
