Safe in the arms of the law

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

A blast, which sounded like a grenade fired from a launcher, went off at the scene at North Ossetia, during a live report by Russia’s NTV television.

Earlier yesterday, a pair of explosions went off just before armed militants released up to 26 women and children.

Officials said militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two cars that got too close to the school.

It was not clear what caused last night’s explosions.

Lev Dzugayev, an aide to the president of North Ossetia, said 26 women and children of various ages were released.

His announcement brought gasps from a huge crowd of relatives and townspeople, pressing against barricades surrounding School Number One in Beslan, not far from war-ravaged Chechnya.

An official at the headquarters for the rescue operation said another group of five people were released separately.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to do everything possible to save lives and his officials said an assault on the school would be the last resort.

The attackers holding the school, said to number about 24 and including women, are heavily armed and wearing suicide belts.

They have threatened to kill 50 children for every one of them killed by Russian forces.

Two women and at least three infants, the children in soldiers’ arms, were seen being rushed from the school.

Russian television showed camouflage-clad soldiers carrying babies, one wrapped in a blanket and one without a shirt.

Mr Dzugayev called the releases “the first success” and expressed hope for further progress.

He said the releases came after mediation by Ruslan Aushev, a respected figure in the Caucasus region.

The releases came amid heightened tension after two powerful explosions roared out in the afternoon, followed by a plume of black smoke rising from near the school.

The rescue operation’s headquarters said militants in the school fired grenades at two cars that had apparently driven too close to the building.

The crisis headquarters said neither car was hit, but reporters said they saw a gutted car about 100 yards from the school.

In the early evening a series of heavy thuds could be heard for 15 minutes.