A hostage released from a provincial Russian school said there are at least 1,500 people being held there by armed militants, the Izvestia newspaper reported today, and a local legislator announced a similar figure challenging far-lower official numbers.

EXPLOSIONS were heard near the site of the Russian school where militants were holding hundreds of captives last night.

At least 31 women and child hostages were released from the southern Russian siege school this afternoon, not long after suicide assailants had fired rocket propelled grenades at cars.

Heavily armed terrorists, many wearing belts packed with explosives, held more than 350 hostages, including children, through the night at a Russian school. Up to 16 people were thought to have died so far in the attack.