Relatives demand victims' bodies after Russian militant attack

HUNDREDS of grieving relatives gathered outside the prosecutors' office in the southern Russian city of Nalchik yesterday, demanding the release of the bodies of relatives killed during a raid by alleged Islamic extremists.

Many feared they would never see their relatives' bodies. Under Russian law, terrorists' bodies are not returned to their families and some claimed their relatives had been unfairly identified as participants in the raid.

"Give back the bodies of our children so that we can bury them," said a petition the crowd gave prosecutors.