Attackers wrapped in suicide-bomb belts raided a school in a region bordering Chechnya, seizing up to 400 hostages — including scores of students welcoming the new school year — and threatening to kill captives or blow up the building if it was stormed by encircling Russian troops. Authorities established contact with the hostage-takers hours after the raid Wednesday, which officials said left at least two people dead in the latest assault in a country the defense minister said has been challenged by a declaration of terrorist war. The ITAR-Tass news agency put the death toll at eight. Camouflage-clad troops carrying heavy-caliber machine guns scrambled into positions around School No. 1 in the North Ossetian town of Beslan. More an a thousand people, including distraught parents, crowded outside police cordons demanding information and accusing the government of failing to protect their children. Full Story
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