2002 : Hostage crisis in Moscow theater
On October 23, 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels storm a Moscow theater,
taking up to 700 people hostage during a sold-out performance of a
popular musical.
The second act of the musical "Nord Ost" was just beginning at the
Moscow Ball-Bearing Plant's Palace of Culture when an armed man walked
onstage and fired a machine gun into the air. The
terrorists--including a number of women with explosives strapped to
their bodies--identified themselves as members of the Chechen Army.
They had one demand: that Russian military forces begin an immediate
and complete withdrawal from Chechnya, the war-torn region located
north of the Caucasus Mountains.
Chechnya, with its predominately Muslim population, had long struggled
to assert its independence. A disastrous two-year war ended in 1996,
but Russian forces returned to the region just three years later after
Russian authorities blamed Chechens for a series of bombings in
Russia. In 2000, President Vladimir Putin was elected partly because
of his hard-line position towards Chechnya and his public vow not to
negotiate with terrorists.
After a 57-hour-standoff at the Palace of Culture, during which two
hostages were killed, Russian special forces surrounded and raided the
theater on the morning of October 26. Later it was revealed that they
had pumped a powerful narcotic gas into the building, knocking nearly
all of the terrorists and hostages unconscious before breaking into
the walls and roof and entering through underground sewage tunnels.
Most of the guerrillas and 120 hostages were killed during the raid.
Security forces were later forced to defend the decision to use the
dangerous gas, saying that only a complete surprise attack could have
disarmed the terrorists before they had time to detonate their
explosives.
After the theater crisis, Putin's government clamped down even harder
on Chechnya, drawing accusations of kidnapping, torture and other
atrocities. In response, Chechen rebels continued their terrorist
attacks on Russian soil, including an alleged suicide bombing in a
Moscow subway in February 2004 and another major hostage crisis at a
Beslan school that September.
history.com/tdih.do
42 BC: Brutus commits suicide
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5461
1855 : Rival governments in bleeding Kansas
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5462
1983 : Beirut barracks blown up
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7059
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On October 23, 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels storm a Moscow theater,
taking up to 700 people hostage during a sold-out performance of a
popular musical.
The second act of the musical "Nord Ost" was just beginning at the
Moscow Ball-Bearing Plant's Palace of Culture when an armed man walked
onstage and fired a machine gun into the air. The
terrorists--including a number of women with explosives strapped to
their bodies--identified themselves as members of the Chechen Army.
They had one demand: that Russian military forces begin an immediate
and complete withdrawal from Chechnya, the war-torn region located
north of the Caucasus Mountains.
Chechnya, with its predominately Muslim population, had long struggled
to assert its independence. A disastrous two-year war ended in 1996,
but Russian forces returned to the region just three years later after
Russian authorities blamed Chechens for a series of bombings in
Russia. In 2000, President Vladimir Putin was elected partly because
of his hard-line position towards Chechnya and his public vow not to
negotiate with terrorists.
After a 57-hour-standoff at the Palace of Culture, during which two
hostages were killed, Russian special forces surrounded and raided the
theater on the morning of October 26. Later it was revealed that they
had pumped a powerful narcotic gas into the building, knocking nearly
all of the terrorists and hostages unconscious before breaking into
the walls and roof and entering through underground sewage tunnels.
Most of the guerrillas and 120 hostages were killed during the raid.
Security forces were later forced to defend the decision to use the
dangerous gas, saying that only a complete surprise attack could have
disarmed the terrorists before they had time to detonate their
explosives.
After the theater crisis, Putin's government clamped down even harder
on Chechnya, drawing accusations of kidnapping, torture and other
atrocities. In response, Chechen rebels continued their terrorist
attacks on Russian soil, including an alleged suicide bombing in a
Moscow subway in February 2004 and another major hostage crisis at a
Beslan school that September.
history.com/tdih.do
42 BC: Brutus commits suicide
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5461
1855 : Rival governments in bleeding Kansas
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5462
1983 : Beirut barracks blown up
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7059
#########################################
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